Tough
by Kimi-the-writer
Summary: Sakura Haruno's life is different, Sasuke's family is alive, and Naruto is still the nine-tailed fox with no parents, but is good friends with Sasuke. How will team seven be able to cope with each other? I think it's better than how the summary sounds, but that's how everyone thinks, ne? R
1. Chapter 1

_A.N: First off, if you are going to complain about it not following the manga or anime please get off this story. This is made for fun, and I really don't think criticizing me because I changed things should be right. I know the story isn't amazing, and I probably need a lot more work on it, but I am writing to not only improve my writing skills but to see if the way I write can be entertaining. This story doesn't really follow the show since Itachi DIDN'T murder is family, the Uchiha's are still alive. Naruto still has the nine-tailed fox in him though, and his parents are still dead. He isn't "Stupid" though. As for Sakura...she is different, in a big way. I do have a OC in here, but he isn't really a main character. I hope you guys enjoy my story though! And please remember to review! _

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!_**

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Tough

Chapter One

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X X X

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_"Sakura, dear. I'm going to have to leave for a few weeks for my job, okay? I usually bring you with me, but your dream is to become a ninja, so I have to leave you here for class." A male says, smiling down kindly at his daughter. He places a small hand on top of her head and ruffles her pink hair and laughs loudly when she starts to protest. "I'll be home soon, okay?" _

_"Okay, daddy. Is someone suppose to watch me?" Sakura asks, tilting her head to the side and staring into his eyes with her own soft green eyes. _

_"Kind of, darling." He answers kneeling down to her and smiling lightly, "I'll explain it later, okay? Before you go off to the academy, do you want to see me off?" Sakura nods happily. _

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_**X X X**_

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_"I guess this is goodbye now, daddy?" Sakura asks while tilting her head to the side and smiling lightly, "I promise to behave, and I will do my best in the academy!" Sakura promises, her smile growing bigger. _

_"I know you will do great, sunshine." He replies with a small smile of his own. He kneels down to the ground next to her and pulls her into a hug. "Remember our next door neighbor?" He asks watching Sakura nod once, "He promised to keep an eye on you while I'm gone, so behave for him." He places a small kiss on her forehead, "I also want you to remember the rules. You are to be nice to a boy named Naruto Uzumaki, got it?" _

_"Of course father. I've never met him yet, but I promise to be nice and become a friend of his!" Sakura says grinning. _

_"Good, I also want to remind you to brush your teeth daily and-" He mutters quietly, trying to give more advice to his daughter. _

_"Daddy. I understand, I'm getting older, and I promise to be good and everything." She places a kiss on his forehead, "Now you should go before you are late. I also have to get to class." She turns on her heel and starts running towards the academy, "Love you daddy, bye!" _

_"Love you too!" He shouts out to her and waves back. Sakura glances behind her for a minute and smiles. She'll miss her dad, but he'll be home soon. _

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X X X

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_"Daddy daddy! I wanna join the ninja academy, please!" A little pinkette girl yells happily, jumping up and down. "I wanna be able to protect the people I love and care for!" She turns to her father and smiles with her head tilting to the side, "Please?" _

_"Well, I guess it's not a problem, Sakura-chan. As long as you really want to do this. You won't be able to go with me all over the countries again though. You'll have to be a big girl and stay here, and go to class." Her father, Ryuu Haruno, explains to his daughter gently. _

_"That's fine daddy! I'll be a big girl and go to all my lessons, stay out of trouble, and do my homework. Not to mention work hard to become the best!" Sakura promises pulling her father towards the sign up sheets, "And when Ami-chan becomes a bully, I'll be the big girl and not fight back." _

_"I'm sure you will do just fine, Sakura-chan. I'll have to see if Kenji-san can watch you when I leave for months though." Ryuu says before picking up the sign up sheet and walking home with his daughter. _

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X X X

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_"Daddy daddy!" Sakura yells, running into the house and skidding to a stop, "I aced my history test! I got the best score!" Sakura announces giggling happily and handing him the perfect paper, "I worked hard studying for it, and it worked out well!" Ryuu hangs the paper up on his fridge before walking over to his daughter and ruffling her hair. _

_"Good job, Sakura-chan. I want you to meet Kenji-san though. He is our next door neighbor, and will help me take care of you when I'm gone." Ryuu motions towards the young male at the table. Sakura turns her head and stares at the man in surprise before blushing from embarrassment. _

_"I~I'm sorry, sir. I didn't notice you here." Sakura apologizes bowing down before smiling and straightening out, "My name is Sakura Haruno! It's a pleasure to meet you!" Kenji looks down at the girl and laughs, ruffling her hair. _

_"The pleasure is mine." He replies with his deep voice, "Like your father said, I'm Kenji. He asked me to help since I'm an retired ninja. So I can help you train with that too." Sakura looks up at him with her eyes widen from surprise. _

_"Will you help me mister? With training?" Sakura asks hopefully. _

_"I guess I can, as long as you listen. I'm not a very patient person." Sakura smiles and nods once, staring up at him with her emerald-green eyes flashing with determination._

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X X X

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_"No, Saku-chan. You are doing it wrong." Kenji says sighing and running a hand through his messy black hair, "You are supposed to hold it like this." Kenji places his hand over hers and readjusts her hands before smiling, "See? Now try to throw it." Sakura nods once and mumbles something under her breath before throwing it towards the target. Thankfully, it hits the middle. _

_"Kenji-chan, Kenji-chan!" She yells giggling, "I did it, look! Look!" Kenji laughs and ruffles her hair. _

_"Yes you did, Saku-chan. We should probably get going though. Your father is probably waiting." _

_"Hai!" She agrees grabbing Kenji's hand and walking out of the training grounds and heading towards their house. After they arrive, Sakura runs over to her father and jumps on his back, explaining her day to him with a big grin on her face._

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X X X

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"Sakura?" Kenji asks, walking into the house with a frown. "Sakura? I brought dinner, and I have to tell you something." _How am I going to tell her? She's going to be so heart-broken. It's going to be hard to watch her cry... _Kenji thinks frowning even more.

"Kenji-chan?" Sakura asks walking into the living room and sitting down, "Is something wrong? You seem like you're sad. Is dad going to come home late? He had to leave immediately to do another mission?"

"Sakura. I really don't want to tell you this. I really wish I could just tell you a lie, and make you believe everything will be alright." He looks into Sakura's eyes, "Your father... won't be coming home after all, Sakura."

"Why isn't he? You aren't making any sense, Kenji!" Sakura screams, tears falling down her cheeks, " You probably heard wrong! Daddy _promised _to be by my side! Daddy promised he wouldn't leave me like mommy did!"

"He didn't want to leave you Sakura! He _died! _He was _murdered!" _Kenji yells, slamming his fist on the table, "Damnit child! Your father would never want to abandon you!" Sakura looks up at Kenji, her eyes over-flowing with tears.

"Y~You yelled at me..." Sakura whimpers fearfully, "I hate you, Kenji!" She screams, running out of the house.

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X X X

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"She...hates me?" Kenji whispers softly to himself while sitting down on the couch and groaning. "Of course she hates me. Her father died and I yelled at her. Not only that I cursed for the first time in front of her. " He sighs, putting up the food he bought, "If I go after her now she might try to do something stupid, and we wouldn't want that. I just hope she doesn't run into any trouble..." _I really am an idiot. That poor girl, she's all alone now. Her mother left them for another man, and now her father is murdered. Is she not to have a good family? Is she suppose to suffer all through her life? Should I adopt her? _

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X X X

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_Daddy left me, mommy left me, Kenji probably hates me, the kids at my school hate me because I'm the pink-haired giant forehead freak... _Sakura thinks to herself while sitting on the swing with tears falling, _No one even cares that I'm crying. I'm all alone, and no one will ever like me. My mom even left me! Why does the world hate me so much? Did I do something to deserve this? _

"Hey, are you okay?" A young boy asks standing in front of the crying girl, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and this teme right here is Sasuke Uchiha, although I'm sure you already know him..." Sakura looks up and stares at the male, blinking away her tears, "See? We won't hurt. Would you like to tell us what's going on?" Sakura looks up and stares at the two in front. One has spiky blond hair, dark blue eyes, and whiskers on his cheek. The other one has spiky hair in the back with his bangs straight, black eyes, and pale skin.

"Y~You won't care. Uzumaki-san, U~Uchiha-san..." Sakura whispers, her voice cracking, "Anyways i~if Ami-san sees U~Uchiha-san talking to me I might get beat up..."

"Ami-san? Oh Teme's fangirl. You go to the ninja academy?" The blond asks surprise. Sakura nods once.

"Yeah... you two are the most popular..." Sakura points at Sasuke and smiles shyly, "And he is the boy all the girls hate each other for. Although, he doesn't seem like my type. He's too quiet."

"Haha, teme! She isn't a fangirl! I told you!" Naruto yells chuckling about the girls comment.

"Dope, shut up." Sasuke grumbles running a hand through his hair before taking the swing next to hers and smiling softly, "Listen, Sakura-chan, whatever is bugging you we can help with. And if you are hurt we can go to my mom, she'll be glad to help." Sakura shakes her head quickly, feeling her heart split in half.

"I'm sorry, Uchiha-san... but I'd rather not see your mother." She whispers, standing up . "I'm going to go home now, d~daddy might be-" She stops, remembering the earlier events, "I just need to get home." She runs off, heading back to her house. _Kenji...does he still hate me? _Sakura thinks, shyly looking down.

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X X X

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_Well, that's the end of this chapter. Most of it were flashbacks and memories of Sakura's. The next chapter should be more interesting since she'll be able to react with more characters. I'm not sure how fast my updates will be since I am usually busy, but I promise I will update it soon. Hopefully in the next few weeks! Don't forget to review and tell me what you think about it! Also, I want romance to be in the story too, but I don't know who she should end up with. So, if you have an idea leave it in the review. It could be Itachi, Shikamaru, maybe even Naruto. I am a huge fan of Sakurax anyone anyways, so it really doesn't matter to me. I just thought maybe I'll give you the chance to tell me who you want her to end up with. Who knows, maybe the couple you want will happen!_

_Kimi-the-Writer_


	2. Chapter 2

_A.N: For some odd reason, this chapter took me forever to write, and I don't really like how long it took me to update. So I do apologize for taking so long, but I did warn you it may take me awhile. I believe it took me long since I could have started chapter two in so many ways, but I finally decided on this one. I do have another copy of chapter two in a different way, but this one is my favorite by far. Some of you may be wondering how long this story will go on for, and truthfully I haven't decided. I have so many plans running through my mind that I'm going to have to write them out on paper and pick what ideas I want and don't want. Still, I do hope you enjoy my chapter and I hope to see more reviews! _

**_Find-A-Way-Today: _**_Thanks for the commenting, and I want you to know that Sasuke will be more stoic in the future! Right now, they are decently young when all of them still have the 'innocence' in them. You will be able to see him changing more into his quiet self later on. Thanks for reviewing and I hope to see another one soon! _

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!**

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Tough

Chapter Two

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X X X

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**Konoha's Park**

"Hey, Teme?" Naruto calls, watching as the pinkette runs away from them, probably heading towards her house, "Have you seen her in the academy? Or was that just a big performance to get you to pay attention to her?" Sasuke turns to his best friend and shrugs, closing his eyes and wiping his clothes since he sat on the swing.

"I highly doubt she'd do something like that, Dope. If you didn't notice, she was breaking down, there is no way those were fake tears." Sasuke looks up at the night sky, noticing a shooting star, "Not to mention, she didn't try to hug me when I went over to comfort her; not to mention she didn't want to come over to my house." Sasuke turns his gaze back to his friend and sighs loudly, noticing Naruto's stupid expression, "Meaning she would have gotten to spend more time with me, and bragged to her friends; she did neither so there is no way she is a fan girl, at least for now."

"I see where you are coming from but," Naruto starts, scratching the back of his head, "How the heck did we miss a pink haired girl?" Sasuke shrugs beside him, "Anyways, we should start heading home, your mom will be mad at us, and then she won't make me her amazing ramen!" Naruto grabs Sasuke's hand and running towards the Uchiha mansion.

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X X X

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**Uchiha's household**

"Itachi-nii?" Naruto asks, staring up at the older Uchiha, "Do you know anything about a pink haired family here?"

"Shut up, Dope." Sasuke grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Naruto for his idiocy, "Don't you remember? Her name is Sakura; Haruno Sakura."

"Haruno?" Itachi asks while leaning against the door and playing with a kunai knife, "I heard of her family. I don't think I should be the one to tell you the information though. You should ask her yourself, but remember to be gentlemen. If you say something wrong, you might set her off." Itachi warns catching his kunai knife with his hand and sliding it into his pocket, "I am leaving on a mission tonight, so I'll see you two when I get home." Itachi walks over to his brother and pokes his forehead before ruffling Naruto's hair, "You two better behave." He walks out of the room, leaving the two 'brothers' to talk to each other.

"What does he mean?" Naruto grumbles childishly while crossing his arms over his chest. Sasuke stares at him with annoyance in his eyes before shaking his head and walking upstairs to his room. "Teme! Teme!" Naruto yells, stumbling upstairs, trying to catch up with his best friend.

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X X X

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**Konoha's Academy**

"Class, one of our fellow students, Haruno Sakura, won't be joining us for a few weeks. Something tragic happened to her, and she'll be on vacation. When she comes back I am expecting you all to be on your best behaviors; no, I am demanding you all to be nice to her." Iruka announces to his classroom, frowning. Kenji came in earlier today, announcing the death of Sakura's father and told him to excuse her for the next couple of weeks.

"Sensei? What's so bad that she has to miss class?" One of the children ask while waving his hand up in the air, "I mean it couldn't be that bad. It's not like someone in her family died." Iruka stares at the student and sighs, not knowing how to answer the question.

"Tsk, that pink haired freak deserved it! Her little daddy couldn't deal with her anymore, so he died." Ami, the class bully, announces cheerfully, "Maybe the freak will give up and kill herself. Our lives will be so much easier!" Ami turns to her crush, Sasuke Uchiha, and bats her eyelashes innocently, "Isn't that right, Sasuke-kun? Pinky won't be able to ruin your status anymore, and me and you can finally be together!" Ami has purple hair that stops at her chin, brown eyes, and creamy skin.

"Ami!" Iruka yells, slamming his fist on his desk, "You have no right to speak like that. And I _will _be talking to your parents when they come and pick you up. Not only that, but you now have detention for a couple of months." Iruka's glare hardens while he taps his foot on the floor impatiently, "As a ninja-in-training you should know that you _never _act like that around a comrade. Do you understand me?" He turns his gaze to the rest of the classroom and frowns, "You will never become ninja if you act like that. The Sakura you guys knew will most likely be gone when she comes back, and I wouldn't do anything to make her upset. I do wish for you guys to treat her like she's still a human, and try to befriend her." His gaze turns to Naruto, who is sitting by Sasuke, "Now, today we will be reading about the hokages." He turns to the chalkboard and starts to write the names, ignoring Ami's cries of unfairness.

Meanwhile, Sasuke glares at Ami with hate. _How can she say something like that? If my family died I would miss a few weeks too! Even though Iruka-sensei never did mention that someone died. He only lead on that she'll be acting differently. I still can't believe her though. Not only is she ugly, she has an horrible personality. No way am I __**ever **__going to like her! _He scowls more, ignoring Iruka's lesson, _She is official going on the bitch list. _

Besides him sits Naruto, who is glaring at Ami even more while growling, "Teme, did she really just insult Sakura-chan?" Naruto asks lowly under his breath while clutching his hands into fist, digging his nails into his skin, drawing blood. _No one is allowed to talk about Sakura like that! I'm going to murder her! I'm going to make sure she won't ever be able to say that again! _

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**Earlier that day; Sakura's house**

Sakura stares blankly up at her white ceiling, remembering her favorite memories with her father racing through her mind. She couldn't help but to wish she was up in heaven, just to see her dad's smiling face again. _Daddy, if you can hear me, please remember that I'll love you no matter what. _She thinks to herself, tears forming in her soft green eyes before blinking them away.

"Sakura?" Kenji asks, knocking on the door lightly before walking in. He shuts her door and walks over to her bed. He places his hand onto her head and ruffles it slightly while sitting down on her bed and staring into her eyes, "I think it'll be best if we talk right now. It should be able to help you with your feelings you are hiding." He tells her, watching a tear fall from her cheek, "You aren't a ninja yet, and you have every right to cry right now." Sakura, looks up at him and closes her eyes, throwing her arms around his shoulder and cries quietly, her body shaking with fear.

"H~He promised he w~wouldn't leave me..." She whimpers out after calming herself down slightly, "I know he d~didn't mean to be killed...but no one who loves m~me ever stays here..." She swallows nervously and licks her dry, cracking lips, "No one l~loves me...and I~I'm starting to think it'll b~be best if I die..." Kenji wraps his arms around her small waist and frowns, tightening his grip.

"No," He stats firmly, glaring at the wall in front of him, "Your father will always be in your heart, just because he's not here physically doesn't me he doesn't care." He grumbles while pushing her back some to stare into her eyes, "Now, darling, I'm most likely only going to say this once, so I want you to listen up, okay?" Sakura nods, her body still shaking from holding in her tears, "I love you as if you are my own daughter, and I will not let you kill yourself. You are meant to live, and you will be loved by many more. It will just take longer." He lightly runs his hands through her hair and smiles softly, watching her try and smile herself, "Now, we may-no we will fight most likely in the future, but just remember that I don't hate you. Kids may be cruel to you, and you might feel like everyone is ignoring you; I will always be here for you." Sakura continues to stare into his eyes and sees his eyes shine brightly, making her tilt her head to the side.

"Kenji?" She asks quietly, "This isn't the moment to ask this, but daddy always told me no matter what I should go to the academy..." She starts, climbing off the bed and forcing her aching body to move towards her dresser, "School already started, and I have to go. I promised my father to always go, and I will not break this promise, even if it kills me." She pulls out a fresh pair of clothes and stares at him, "Leave the room." Kenji shakes his head and walks over to her putting the clothes back into her dresser.

"No," He replies glaring, "You will not be going to the academy today. You are definitely not in the right mind to go there. You act calm on the outside-for the most part- but I know you. You're holding it all inside for yourself to deal with it later, aren't you?" He asks, watching her freeze. "I am refusing your request to go to the academy, deal with it." He heads towards the door and opens it, "I have breakfast downstairs. We will talk more later." He leaves Sakura to think to herself.

"Hmph," Sakura grumbles, pulling out some pajama pants and tank top, "You may stop me from leaving today, but tomorrow I will go. Daddy would want me to be strong and not mourn over his death, 'specially around other people." **You're pathetic. **Her inner self growls out, trying to strangle the outer, **Holding in this emotion won't be good for us! I need you to actually cry like you mean it! **_Shut up, Inner. You know fully well how I feel. If I act weak in front of Kenji, I won't be able to fulfil my promise to daddy. Do you want to make him sad and give up? Do you want us to give up on our dreams? I want to cry my eyes out, and you know that. _**Well, Kenji knows us well enough to know what we are planning. You obviously haven't cried enough. **_He was your father too, shouldn't you be crying? _Sakura thinks, growling lowly while changing her clothes. **How can I when I'm not controlling myself right now? **_You act like we share this body. _**Oh, little Saku-chan, if only you knew. **Inner chuckles loudly before disappearing. _What...? _Sakura thinks to herself while frowning and shaking her head, decidin g to figure it out later.

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X X X

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**Konoha's Academy; lunch break**

"Teme? Have we came to a conclusion?" Naruto asks his friend while slurping up some of his ramen and staring at Sasuke from the corner of his eyes, who is eating an homemade bento his mother made.

"You already know we have, dope." Sasuke answers finishing his food and sighing, listening to his fangirls try and flirt with him, "We'll start it when she comes back in a few weeks. I'll announce my plan to mother when I get home." Naruto nods slightly before finishing his ramen and stands up, collecting Sasuke's trash.

"Let's hope she doesn't try to hurt herself, and hope that she has someone to help her come through this while being out of the academy." Naruto replies with a frown before walking away, pushing his way through the fan club. _Sakura, you may not know us, but we are about to become your best friends. _Naruto thinks to himself, heading back to Sasuke, begging for him to explain the lesson.

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_I'm pretty sure you guys noticed me replying to Find-A-Way-Today, and I wanted to let you all know, whenever someone asks me a question (And I wish to answer it without spoiling anything) I will do it at the beginning of the chapters. Don't worry though! I haven't forgotten about all my other reviewers! So I'd like to thank the following for reviewing: **Find-A-Way-Today, DeadlyDarkAngel, Black n' Blue sun, 1Animefreakgurl, littlemissxflydog, XT3, banglamiss, and blackmoon124! **I am blown away with the amount of reviews I got from my first chapter, so thank you! I also want to thank everyone who is following my story and who favorited it! I hope to update again sometime this month, so please be patient with my slow updates! _

_Kimi-the-writer_


	3. Chapter 3

_A.N: Well, I'm surprised I finished chapter three so soon, honestly! I really don't have anything to say about this chapter...except I hope you like it! Oh, I am going into winter break soon, so I might be able to update many chapters in the next few weeks! _

**_Banglamiss: _**_They are around seven years old currently! I'm sorry for the confusion!_

**_Passionforcandy456: _**_Naruto does have is own room in the Uchiha household, and he does stay over there most of the time, but he does own his own apartment room. But, since the villagers still want to beat him up, the Uchiha's have him live with them so they can protect him._

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

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Tough

Chapter Three

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"K-Kenji-sensei.." Sakura groans out, falling to her knees and breathes heavily, "C-Can we take a short break? I haven't eaten a-anything since the morning." Kenji looks down at his new daughter and student, examining her. She has a huge bruise under her left eye, a huge scratch on her cheek where she was hit with a kunai knife, and a couple more bruises and scratches scattered all over her body from her tough training. After a few minutes of silence he looks into her emerald-green eyes and nods, sending her a small smile.

"I suppose you've earned yourself a small break, Sakura." He replies while jumping down from the tree he was sitting on and nodding once more, "Not to mention you have class tomorrow, and we wouldn't want you to be too tired. I'm going to go to the Hokage's tower to get a mission, so I might not be returning home today." He walks over to the kneeling pinkette and places his hand on her head, ruffling her hair, "I have to get some payment for the bill next week. Please remember to continue your training while I'm gone. And when I get back you better of gotten better with your aiming." Sakura looks up at him and smiles lightly nodding, "If you hurt yourself, go to the hospital, don't be stubborn."

"Kenji-kun, sometimes I think you remind me of an overly protective older brother." Sakura replies with a small grin on her face. She stands up and wraps her arms around his legs before waving to him, "I promise to behave myself, and I will get better at aiming. Please be careful while doing your mission, and try to return home safely." Kenji nods, sending her a small smile before forming a hand sign and teleporting away.

Sakura leaves the training ground and walks through the village's busy streets, only focusing on the path in front of her, and heading towards Ichiraku's. **Feel tough now, Saku-chan? **Her inner asks mockingly with a smirk on her face, **All it took was a death? If I knew that, I would have killed our worthless father sooner! **Sakura twitches slightly at the thought while entering Ichiraku's and smiling polietly at the owner and his daughter. She takes a seat on the stool and closes her eyes. _Be quiet, Inner. I'd rather eat in peace, and quite frankly, you really annoy me. _**It's my pleasure to do that though! It's my job after all, stupid. **_Why don't you shut up and go crawl into whatever hell hole created you? _**Oh, darling, if only you knew. **

"Sakura-chan, it's nice to see you again!" Teuchi, the owner of the place, greets with a smile on his face, "I'm assuming you want the usual?" Sakura looks up at him and smiles lightly, silently thanking him for breaking up the conversation she was having with her inner self before nodding.

"Nice to see you too, Teuchi-san." She greets softly, "And yes please. I just want a small bowl of miso ramen, thanks." Teuchi nods once and turns around, working on her ramen. He quietly steals glances at her, trying to count the number of bruises and cuts that were on her.

"Hey, old man! I want my regular!" A loud child announces while sitting a few stools away from Sakura, not noticing her, "Sasuke is coming too, so his regular would be nice too!" While the young male talks, Sakura stares at him from the corner of her eye before blinking, recognizing him. _I believe he was the boy who saw me crying at the park. What was his name? Naruta? No. Naru? Close... Oh! It's Naruto Uzumaki...the boy my dad always told me to befriend, why? _

"Be patient, Naruto-kun." Teuchi replies laughing and turning his gaze to Sakura, who was lost in her thoughts, "I have to serve her first. She did arrive here first, after all." Naruto turns his attention to her and gasps.

"Sakura!" He whispers loudly, "It's been awhile hasn't it?" Sakura turns to him and sends him a polite smile while her eyes stare blankly at him.

"I suppose it has." She agrees before thanking Teuchi after he put her bowl in front of her, "How far did the academy get in the lessons? I'm going to need to work hard to catch up."

"When are you coming back?" Naruto questions while his eyes soften, staring at the pinkette with interest, "Iruka-sensei told us you should be coming next week sometime."

"Aa, I'm returning tomorrow." She answers, breaking her chop sticks and whispering her prayers before picking up the noodles and closes her eyes, taking a bite. Naruto's eyes slowly shift to her bruise on her cheekbone and frowns.

"Hey, did someone beat you up? How did you get those bruises?" Naruto demands, his eyes narrowing at the sight. When he was younger, he too was beaten up, until the Uchiha's stood up and scared away the villagers, "It isn't Ami-san, is it? Or maybe your new guardian? Do you even have one? You aren't living on the streets are you?!" Sakura quietly finishes her food and places the chopsticks on the bowl before turning to him.

"I guess you can say I was beaten up, but not by anyone in general." She hums out lowly, "I haven't seen Ami-san in a while, and I plan to avoid her. Yes; I do have a guardian, and he's probably one of the best ones I could ever have. I'm not living on the street. As for your first question, I did this too myself." She stats calmly, watching him to red with anger, "Not to hurt myself on purpose, just to train."

"Oh," Naruto breathes out softly, his face returning back to its orginal color, "I thought you were...harming yourself." He looks down at his food and smiles, "Thanks, old man! Sasuke should be arriving soon!" He turns his attention to Sakura one more time and smiles even more, "How about I come pick you up? I wouldn't want you to walk alone." _Since Ami is waiting to beat you up. _He adds to himself before turning to his food and inhaling all of his food, ignoring his burnt mouth.

"Dope, I told you to eat more proper." Sasuke grumbles, sitting next to his best friend and nodding his thanks when his food was placed in front of him. He takes a small bite out of it before turning to Sakura and blinking, "Oh, nice to see you, Sakura." He greets, watching her eyes widen. _No. Don't be a fan girl... _He pleas quietly, although his face stays blank on the outside.

"Sasuke-san." She greets, "It's nice to see you too." She pulls out some money for her meal and places it on the table, "Thanks for the meal, Teuchi-san. I might be back later, unless I feel like cooking." She turns to her classmates, "I will see you both tomorrow." She leaves the restaurant.

* * *

X X X

* * *

Sakura yawns softly to herself while walking into the kitchen and rubs her eyes. She walks over to the refrigerator and pulls out an apple and takes a small bite. She walks over to the counter and notices a note on it. She tilts her head to the side and picks it up, quickly reading it:

_Sakura, I'm sorry I won't be here for your first day back at the Academy, but remember to eat food and train. If you need any help go to the third Hokage so he can help you. I should be back in three days, if I'm not don't worry too much. And don't forget I love you. _

_P.S: You better work on your aiming more, Saku. _

_Love,_

_Kenji_

"Love you too, Kenji-kun." She mutters quietly before setting the note down and finishing her apple. She throws the core away and walks outside, heading towards the Academy.

* * *

X X X

* * *

"Good morning, Iruka-sensei." She greets softly while walking into the classroom and sitting down in her old seat.

"G-Good morning, Sakura." He greets back while walking over towards her, "Are you sure you can be here? Do you want to get off a few more days? Are you-" Sakura silently holds up her hand to stop him from ranting.

"I've had weeks to mourn over his death." She replies indifferently, "I am as ready as I'll ever be." **No you aren't. **_Shut up. It's hard enough with your stupid hateful attitude. Here we go... _She thinks to herself after the last student enters the room.

* * *

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* * *

Ami glares angrily at the student in front of her while clutching her hand into a fist. She _will _beat the pinkette until she cries, and then _**her **_Sasuke will love her forever and ever. _Yes, that's what I'll do. I'll beat her up, and make her cry since she's so pityful. A wimp. _Ami thinks grinning evilly.

"Today, we are going to have practice matches. I am going to let you pass this one without a fight though, Sakura, since you just got back. As for everyone else, get ready to fight. We aren't doing any genjutsu or ninjutsu since most of you don't know how too." Iruka announces while standing up and clapping his hands loudly to wake up any of the sleeping students, "Let's go head outside now." Ami and her seatmate, Ino Yamanaka, stands up and walks outside after Ami roughly pushed Sakura out of the way.

"Sensei, how is it fair that Sakura isn't fighting?" Ami asks, sending him an innocent look, "I missed yesterday, but I still have to fight." Iruka turns to her and frowns, since he never forgave her for her rude comments.

"You were absent for a day, Ami. Sakura's been gone for over a month if not longer. I believe she isn't capable to fight right now." Ami opens her mouth to protest when the pinkette walks over, cutting her off.

"I can fight today, Iruka-sensei." She comments, her voice empty, "I really don't mind. It will help me see how far you got in training." Iruka looks at her and sighs, knowing she won't give up.

"Fine, I guess I'll allow you to fight." He mutters while thinking about who she should fight.

* * *

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* * *

"Sakura Haruno vs Ino Yamanaka! Remember, no ninjutsu or genjutsu! We will only be doing taijutsu here." Iruka announces, watching Sakura and Ino stand in front of each other.

"Sakura-chan! You can do it!" Naruto cheers before getting hit by Sasuke.

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_Yet again, I'm blown away with all the reviews! It makes me smile everytime I get a review, so thank you very much! Thank you to the following for reviewing: **Passionforcandy456, ChicFreakSistaFierce, Banglamiss, Topsilog00, LadyCalus, Guest, MrClosedEyes, L, Bloody. 5507, Dina Sana, and Nami Corso! **Of course, I want to send out my thanks to all of the people who favorited my story and put it on alert! I hope to update soon, and I hope to see more reviews!_

_Kimi-the-Writer_


	4. Chapter 4

_A.N: Tada~ I have to say, this has to be my favorite chapter I've written, at least for now. I hope you guys enjoy it just as much as I had fun writing it! I do want to thank everyone for reading my story, and I hope you all review this time, too! I still don't know about the couple - so I'm sorry about that. I believe the chapter after this one will be the last one when they are young. So, chapter six will be the start of the teams and what not! _

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

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Tough

Chapter Four

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_This is it. Ami-chan will want me to beat her up until she can't move. I have to do it, or she'll kick me out of her group! If I'm kicked out, Ami-chan will win over Sasuke-kun's heart! I can't, and will not let that happen! _Ino Yamanaka thinks to herself while running a hand through her short blond hair nervously. She has nothing against the pinkette, and truthfully her parents made her promise to never harm the pinkette, unless the pinkette did something to hurt her. _Mom and dad will be disappointed. Friends come first though right? After all, I need to keep my enemies closer...And Ami is my biggest enemy when it comes to winning Sasuke-kun's heart!_ Ino's blue eyes soften while staring into Sakura's emerald-green eyes, _I'm sorry, Sakura! I have to win though, and make Ami think I'm on her side! _

"Yamanaka-san?" Sakura asks gently, watching Ino's face form different expressions in the past few minutes, "If you do not wish to fight, we can always do it later." Suddenly, Ino snaps her attention and growls lowly under her breath, mentally apologizing to her family, and the pinkette.

"I'm perfectly fine, _forehead freak!_" Ino hisses out the nickname coldly while getting down into her comfortable fighting position, "Stop trying to act tough, no one likes you! After all, didn't your whole family ditch you?" Ino throws her head back, letting her evil laughter ring through the Academy's courtyard before smirking, watching Sakura's emerald-green eyes pale slightly. _Harsh. How can I say that to a classmate? _Ino closes her eyes, ignoring the comments her classmates mutter among themselves, _I've always been mean to her though. I called her names, beat her up, and even told her how I was going to kill her one day. I'm pathetic. But, I am quite sure I caught Sasuke-kun's attention now. _

"Are you done yet?" Sakura asks, tilting her head to the side, "I would appreciate it if you stop throwing insults at me like that." Sakura then shifts into her own fighting position, "I would also appreciate it if you stop talking about my family." The aura around her turns cold while her eyes narrow into a fierce glare, "I advise you not to go easy on me, especially if you plan to insult me through the whole fight, Yamanaka-san." The way the pinkette said her name was deadly. Earlier, when Ino first insulted her, Iruka stepped in, planning to stop the fight but Sakura told him no, and forced him to let her match continue.

"Acting strong? You're just a pathetic, pink-haired freak!" Ino growls out, feeling her heart tighten in her chest. She knew right away that Iruka is going to tell her mother, and she knew her parents will be grounding her for life, but she has to keep going. She needs to make Ami think she's with her group.

"You seem like you're doing the same thing, Yamanaka-san." Sakura taunts while taking a small step closer, throwing her opponent a smirk, "If you are trying to say something to get me distracted, it won't work." She continues to approach the blond calmly, "Kenji-sensei made sure people can't rile me up with bringing up my family." She stops a few feet in front of Ino, "I was in the hospital last time I let someone's words influence my actions, and I am not planning to let it happen again." As soon as she said that, Sakura swings her fist at Ino, hitting her cheek; Ino's head is thrown back from the power before she spits out blood all over the pinkette. "Get serious." Sakura demands watching as Ino let her words anger the blond even more.

"You've asked for it, pinky!" Ino yells angrily before raising her fist and swinging it at Sakura's face. Sakura quickly ducks and swipes her leg under Ino, making her fall on the ground with a thud. Sakura quickly jumps ontop of the blond and raise her fist, quietly threatening her. **Oh, you are going to pathetically easy on her. Why? She insulted you, did she not? **Inner asks cocky while clutching her hands into fist herself, **Just kill the worthless blond! **_Shut up. Am I suppose to kill you too, then? You always insult me. And I am not going to kill her! She hasn't done anything wrong! _Sakura growls lowly under her breath while Inner slowly disappears. "Distracted?" Ino taunts, flipping herself over and hovers over Sakura while raising her own fist. Ino stares into Sakura's eyes and freezes, watching as Sakura stares blankly at her. "Why aren't you scared?" Ino asks angrily before punching Sakura in the face. She watches as Sakura eyes narrow at her, but still hold the same blank look. Ino growls lightly before punching Sakura in the face repeatitly, hearing a crack every once in a while. "Why? Why do you not give up?" Ino asks weakly after staring down at her classmates face. Her lip is busted, blood is dripping from the sides of her mouth, and she has bruises everywhere.

"Are you done yet?" Sakura asks softly before pushing the stunned blond off of her. She stands up and walks over to Ino before pinning the blond's hands over her head and holding down her legs, "The reason why I never gave up is because Kenji-sensei would kill me. The reason why I was distracted is for you to have a chance to beat me, and the reason why I'm not scared is because I've been through hell and back again." Sakura turns her head to Iruka and nods lightly, "Iruka-sensei, I believe she lost this fight, am I right?" She asks, ignoring the blood that is dripping from her mouth.

"A-Ah. Yeah. Ino Yamanaka is unable to fight, which means Sakura Haruno is the winner." Iruka coughs lightly before rushing over towards the pinkette and pulling her off of Ino, "Sakura, that was reckless." He scolds her while she wipes the blood from her face, "The rest of class is dismissed. I'm going to take Sakura to the hospital to make sure she didn't get her nose broken." He turns to Ino, "You will be serving detention for the next few months from bringing up the topic I told you _**all **_to avoid when you're by her."

* * *

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* * *

Sasuke sighs softly to himself while walking through the streets of the village with Naruto, heading towards his house. _That girl is reckless; she probably injured herself greatly. But...what does she mean by she went through hell and back again? She couldn't of gotten someone to train her...but then again who is this "Kenji-sensei" person? _Sasuke thinks to himself while his left eye twitches in annoyance. He does not like not knowing what's going on.

"Hey, Sasuke-teme?" Naruto questions while putting his hands behind his head and yawning, "Sakura-chan looked scary while fighting Ino, didn't she?" Sasuke shrugs lightly, "Teme, stop trying to act all cool, I know you!" Naruto growls out, shoving Sasuke slightly. "How are we going to get close to her now? Ino probably made her go home and cry..."

"She probably didn't go home and cry, dope." Sasuke comments walking into his the Uchiha compound, ignoring the greetings he got, "She's probably in the hospital with a broken nose. You did hear the crack, right?"

"Ino broke her nose?" Naruto asks frowning deeply, "How? Ino's never been the strong type." Naruto and Sasuke walk into their house before Naruto sighs. "She, Ino, kept stealing looks at you. Do you think you're the reason why she suddenly became stronger? After all, they say when you're in love you do stupid things."

"Aa," Sasuke replies taking off his shoes, "We are home!" He announces hearing his mother welcome them from the kitchen. He turns to Naruto and nods before walking into the kitchen with Naruto following.

"How was school today, Sasuke-chan?" Mikoto asks gently while chopping up some tomatoes for dinner, "If I remember correctly, your classmate was suppose to return today?"

"Hey Kaa-san!" Naruto greets with a huge smile on his face, "Sakura-chan did return to school today, but we believe she's in the hospital with a broken nose." Mikoto smiles lightly at Naruto before frowning.

"Why is she in the hospital?" Mikoto asks concern before handing Sasuke a tomato when he held his hand out, "Is she going to be okay?"

"She went aganist Ino Yamanaka; she won, but Ino got quite a few hits." Naruto explains watching Sasuke start to eat the tomato.

"Hey, Kaa-san?" Sasuke asks suddenly after swallowing his food, "Do you know someone by the name Kenji?" Mikoto looks over at her son and taps her chin lightly with her finger before shaking her head.

"No, I never heard of him, but then again if anyone would, it would be your father." She replies shrugging her shoulders, "Or maybe Itachi-chan. Itachi is home already, so if you really want to know he'll be the best to ask right now." Sasuke and Naruto nod before walking upstairs, heading towards Itachi's room.

* * *

X X X

* * *

"Kenji?" Itachi asks while sharpening his kunai knife and staring at his brother with interest, "There are many 'Kenji's' in the world, little brother. Do you know anymore information?"

"Sakura-chan mentioned him!" Naruto interrupts while bouncing on Itachi's bed, "She called him Kenji-sensei." Itachi raises his eyebrow curiously before smirking, knowing who they are talking about.

"He's a retired shinobi," Itachi replies while putting his kunai knife back into his weapon pouch, "Actually, he just returned to his duty. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go train." Itachi stands up and opens up his door, motioning for them to leave. Sasuke immediately stands up and leaves the room while Naruto follows after him. _So he really did get himself a apprentice, eh? _Itachi thinks before leaving the house, heading towards the training ground.

* * *

X X X

* * *

"She'll be fine, but she does have a broken nose." The nurse informs the young male chunin in front of her, "I will need her to return here after a few weeks to make sure her nose healed correctly. I am going to have to ban her from anymore fights so it doesn't break even more." The nurse stares down at the pinkette next to the teacher and smiles lightly at her, "You were very tough, child. Thank you for not crying." Sakura shrugs lightly and gently places her hand over her nose with a frown. Kenji is going to kill her for being reckless during her fight, even if it was with a classmate.

"I'll still be able to do the aiming lessons?" Sakura asks hopefully, "I promise I won't get into anymore fights, at least until my nose is healed."

"I...I suppose aiming lessons won't hurt," She turns her attention back to the chunin, "As long as it's just targets and not fighting with eachother."

"I promise that's all we will do," Iruka promises before patting Sakura's head with a smile, "She won't be fighting anymore." Sakura, who is pouting, puffs her cheeks out before turning on her heel and walking away.

"Thanks for taking me to the hospital, Iruka-sensei. But I have to go, I haven't eaten anything in awhile." Her stomach growls loudly, making her laugh nervously, "And I'm very hungry, surprisingly."

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_Thank you for reviewing: **Live2Dance, Guest, Passionforcandy456, Dina Sana, Chibified-chan, and Hopelesslyhope! **I really hope you guys review this time too! Some of you may be wondering when my next update will be, and I'll tell the truth. I have no idea, at all. I have chapter five halfway done already, but I want to at least have a better concept of how the story is going to go. I do have an idea of where and when my story is going to end - but the thing is - I can't really plan too far since I need to at least build up the romantic feelings she has for whoever. Then again, romance isn't the main genre so that's good, right? I think I've talked long enough, so please review!_

_Kimi-the-Writer_


	5. Chapter 5

_A.N: Alright, I'm excited to say that next chapter they will be around the age of where they get to graduate! I know there isn't much, but to get more into my plot I had to cut out some things, sadly. I apologize for that. I also still have no clue who she will end up with - if she even does - since it isn't really even a romantic story. I do have somewhat of a plan, but it has a few holes, so I guess we'll have to wait and see. _

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

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Tough

Chapter Five

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"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yells, running towards the lonely pinkette, "Will you come eat lunch with me and Sasuke?" Sakura looks up from the book she's reading and sighs, closing it.

"I have a feeling if I reject your offer, you'll make me do it, Uzumaki-san." Sakura replies, "I've eaten lunch with you guys for the past week, I have to catch up with all the lessons I missed." Naruto pouts while grabbing her hand and pulls her up, much to her dislike.

"Please? Sasuke-teme will help you, please!?" Naruto begs smiling brightly, "I promise he'll help you! Come on Sakura-chan, you can't ruin our tradition, can you?"

"It's hardly a tradition if it just happened, Uzumaki-san," She mutters while picking up her bento and nodding towards him, "You'll continue to whine at me until I agree - thus making our lunch time go to waste. Just lead the way, Uzumaki-san." Naruto smiles happily while grabbing her hand and pulling her towards a tree where Sasuke is waiting for them.

"Teme!" Naruto shouts, breaking out into a run, "I got her, and you have to help her catch up in the lessons she missed!" Sasuke looks up and nods at Sakura while turning his attention to the blond idiot, his eye twitching in annoyance.

"I have to do what?" Sasuke asks while pulling out a tomato from his lunch and taking a bite out of it.

"Hehe," Naruto laughs nervously while rubbing the back of his head, "I promised that you'll help her catch up, if she agreed to eat lunch with us! I mean, she can't ruin our tradition now, right?" Sasuke's eye twitches in annoyance.

"Uchiha-san," Sakura greets, taking a seat next to him and putting her lunch next to Sasuke and putting her book on her lap. She pulls out a rice ball and takes a small bite while reading her book.

"This is hardly a tradition, dope." Sasuke grumbles out while looking at the book Sakura is reading, "If you... really want help, Haruno-san, you can come over to my house and I'll help you catch up."

"I wouldn't want to be a burden to you," Sakura replies turning the page and taking another bite of her rice ball, "But, if you really do want to help me, I guess it won't hurt. Kenji-sensei isn't training me today since I need to catch up on my studies, and he's proud of my target practice." Sakura turns her head and smiles lightly up at Sasuke, "So, I suppose it'll be alright, as long as I actually study."

"We'll take you home with us then, Sakura-chan!" Naruto promises before the three of them start to each their lunch.

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* * *

"Guys, can't we go play or something?" Naruto groans out while blowing some of his hair out of his face, "You two have been studying for the past few hours, and I'm bored!" Sasuke turns to his friend and growls lowly.

"Dope, get out of here if you're just going to complain. I am still helping her with some of the lessons - that you promised that I'll do - so go bother Itachi-nii."

"Itachi-nii?" Sakura asks while looking up from the book she's reading, "You have an older brother, Uchiha-san?" Sasuke turns to her and smirks.

"Aa," Sasuke answers, "Come on, I have to walk you home soon, and we aren't done with the lessons." Sakura nods and looks back down at her book, reading. _She really isn't a fan girl. She had no clue that I even have a brother, that's quite interesting, to tell the truth. She doesn't freak out when I smirk at her either, maybe she will be a good friend, possibly. _

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* * *

"Thanks for dinner, Uchiha-sama" Sakura thanks, bowing before straightening up and sending them all a soft, small smile, "I should get going now though. Kenji-kun wouldn't like it if I came home later than this." Sakura turns to her classmates and bows again, "Thank you for helping my studies, Uchiha-san, and thank you for inviting me over, Uzumaki-san." Sakura turns on her heel, heading towards the door.

"Haruno-san?" Mikoto calls smiling, "Please do come again, I'm sure we will all appreciate it if you did." Sakura turns to her and nods once, "Sasuke-chan will be walking you home, too, along with Naruto-chan. We can't have a young lady like yourself walk alone!"

"Of course," Sakura replies waiting for Sasuke and Naruto to catch up to her.

* * *

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* * *

"Thanks for walking me home, guys." Sakura thanks before walking into her house and shutting the door. She takes off her shoes, rushes into the living room, and jumps onto Kenji with a big smile on her face.

"Kenji-chan!" She yells while he wraps his arms around her before chuckling, "My classmates, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki, invited me over to Uchiha's house to help me study, and then the mother was kind enough to have me eat dinner with them." Sakura crawls off of him and sits on the seat next to him while stretching her legs out, "Uzumaki-san refuses to leave me alone; he dragged me to lunch with them, again!" Kenji smiles down at his adopted daughter.

"Is that so?" He replies calmly, "I'm going to be going on more missions, okay?" Sakura nods, "I'm also going to make you a special training schedule that you have to follow." He stares into her eyes and smirks, "You are going to have to do all your academy work - fight or not - and then you get to do the training schedule. So, academy work and this doesn't mix together, alright?"

"So basically, if I have to do fifty push ups in the academy it won't be added to the set amount you gave me?" Sakura asks watching him nod. "You're so cruel, Kenji-chan." She pouts before wrapping her arms around him again to give him a goodnight hug, "Night, Kenji-chan, sweet dreams."

"You too." Kenji mutters while hugging her back and standing up. He stretches his back slightly before walking up stairs with her still in his arms. He sets her down on her bed and kisses her forehead before walking out. "You are going to be quite a strong girl, Sakura-chan. As long as you actually do you exercise and don't turn into a crazed fan girl." He mumbles to himself, disappearing into his bedroom.

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* * *

"Naruto Uzumaki! You better stop pranking me! I haven't done anything to you lately! So why? I avoid you at all costs!" Ami growls out while shaking her fist angrily at the male in front of her, "Well, as long as you aren't by Sasuke-kun." She adds, batting her eyelashes.

"You should know why." He grumbles, glaring at her with hate, "You said some pretty rude things in the past few months, specifically towards a pinkette..." Naruto takes one step forward, making Ami back up into a wall, "I don't appreciate people talking about my friends like that. And, you know you deserve it. You're a bitch." He growls out the last word before tilting his head towards Sasuke, who is leaning against a wall by them, "Don't you agree, teme?"

"Hn," Sasuke replies, pushing himself off the wall and walking towards Naruto. He stops next to his friend and stares at the girl in front of him. Instead of her normal purple hair, she has puke green hair with bright red dots all over, thanks to Naruto's recent prank. "Listen." Sasuke demands while crossing his arms over his chest, "You touch Haruno, or harm her in any way - rather it be physical or mentally - I will find out. And you'll have one pissed off Uchiha to deal with, got it?" Ami stares up at her crush with fear while nodding her head frantically, trying to get on his good side.

"Y-Yes of course, S-Sasuke-sama! I will leave the bi-" Naruto glares down at her with his fangs showing, "I-I mean Haruno-san. She w-won't deal with me bullying her anymore. A-And I'll tell my f-friends to leave her alone!" Ami promises.

"Let's go." Sasuke demands, turning on his heel and walking away. Naruto, sending her one last glare, quickly follows with his arms behind his head.

"Oh, and you better tell them you tried to do something with your hair. I didn't have anything to do with it." Naruto orders, sending her a smirk, "Or else it'll be worse." Ami nods weakly, watching the two vanish from her sight. _That bitch, has my crush and his friend on her side! What does she have that I don't? No. She doesn't have a family. That's what I have. Maybe I can make it look like Sakura attacked me? Yes. It'll work perfectly. _Ami thinks to herself while smiling evilly and standing up.

* * *

X X X

* * *

Sakura sits down on her favorite swing and looks up at the sky, sighing softly to herself when the wind blew against her cheeks. She just got done doing her work out schedule that Kenji - cruelly - gave her. She's been running around the village as fast as she can, knowing he would just make it worse if she didn't finish it. She closes her eyes and stretches her arms over her head, smiling when she hears a successful crack. _All I need to do is return home and eat._ Suddenly, Ami runs up to Sakura and sends her a dirty look before smirking. Ami pulls out a kunai knife from her bag and turns to Sakura, sending her another smirk.

"You're about to be murdered, _Sakura-chan._" Ami giggles, gently running her finger across the blade, watching a sliver of her blood start to drip, "You're going to be dead, and I'll finally be able to have Sasuke-kun to myself. Isn't that great?" Sakura stares at Ami and quietly climbs off her swing, taking a small step back. "Oh, this isn't for you sweetie. It's for me." Ami giggles again, moving her head to cover her mouth.

"I think you need help," Sakura mutters quietly, watching Ami move the kunai knife closer to her neck, "No, I know you do." Sakura slowly walks over to her. When she's close enough to touch the knife, Ami stabs her own stomach before screaming out in pain, drawing everyone's attention.

"S-Sakura-chan, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Please, don't kill me!" Ami yelps, falling onto the ground while a ANBU suddenly appears in front of them.

* * *

X X X

* * *

"What happened?" The ANBU demands, staring down at the bleeding academy student. When the pinkette doesn't answer, he turns to her and frowns - which is hidden under his mask - "I said: What happened?" He repeats again, his voice demanding for the pinkette to answer.

"I-I," The pinkette stutters out, staring at him with fear, "I-I was sitting on my favorite swing when she suddenly appeared. She was talking nonsense about me being murdered. She then stabbed herself and yelled out my name!" Sakura answers, after seeing the male's red eyes, "I-I didn't touch her though, I promise!" The ANBU stares down at her before nodding and picking up the injured girl.

"Stay away from her and go home, Haruno." The ANBU orders before disappearing, leaving Sakura alone.

* * *

X X X

* * *

"Kenji?" Sakura cries, running into the house with tears falling down her cheeks, "Kenji!" She screams. Kenji, who was working on her training schedule, rushes into the room and pulls her up into a hug and gently soothes her by rubbing her back.

"Shhh, shhh.." He whispers while carrying her over to the couch and sitting down with her curling up to his chest, "What happened to you?"

"I-I finished the schedule... a-and Ami suddenly appeared with a kunai knife..." Sakura starts, her tears rolling down her cheek, "S-She said she was going to murder me and stabbed herself!"

"Explain everything, from the start." He orders firmly, still rubbing her back gently to encourage her. Sakura nods, and finishes explaining everything, even the ANBU with the red eyes.

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_I'm actually really worried right now, I feel like I'm doing something to disappoint the readers, since it's not getting as many reviews as it first did. I know I'm probably just being paranoid - and no worries for those who do review, I am not going to stop the story just because people don't seem to be reading it, after all, I still have loyal fans, ne? - I just feel like people are losing interest in the story. Anyways, I'd like to thank the following for reviewing: **L, MiyatheEarthninja, ChErRyBlOsSoM274, Black n' Blue sun, Dina Sana, and Guest! **Yet again, I also want to thank all of those who are favoriting and following my story, so thanks! _

_Kimi-the-Writer_


	6. Chapter 6

_A.N: I want to apologize since I wasn't able to update as soon as I hoped. I have a terrible stomach flu right now, and let's just say I am so exhausted right now it isn't even funny. It's actually troublesome. I don't know if I'll be able to update again over this break, but I'll try my best! And I want to thank everyone who reviewed! I don't know why I thought people weren't interested in it, but I'm glad that you guys cheered me up. And guess what, they are now old enough to graduate! Yay!_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

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Tough

Chapter Six

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"Oh, good morning, Sakura-chan!" Mikoto greets happily while setting a plate of food in front of her, "I hope you slept well?" Sakura, who is barely awake, nods politely and rubs her eyes, trying to stay awake.

"Good morning, Mikoto-sama." Sakura greets back while looking down at the food with a small smile. Mikoto cooked her favorite; french toast with scrambled eggs. "Thanks for the breakfast. Are the other two awake yet?"

"No they aren't. Itachi is up though. He is supposed to train you guys later on, right?" Mikoto asks while tilting her head to the side, "And I told you not to call me Mikoto-sama! It's Mikoto-chan or Okaa-san, darling!" Sakura smiles softly at Mikoto and nods.

"Of course, Mikoto-chan." Sakura replies. Mikoto walks back over to the stove and continues to cook more food for the other members of the family. Sakura glances up at the dining room door when she heard it open, "Aa, good morning, Itachi-kun." Sakura greets sending him a small smile before eating some of her food.

"Good morning, Sakura." Itachi greets back and sits down next to her.

"Sakura-chan! Stay away from him!" Naruto yells, rushing into the kitchen and attempting to tackle Itachi to the ground. Itachi easily dodges and walks behind Sakura, picks up a piece of her french toast, and disappears.

"Oh, Naruto." Sakura groans out in embarrassment, shaking her head, "Itachi-kun wasn't doing anything bad, okay? He was here to eat breakfast. When did you, Sasuke, and Itachi become so... competitive anyways?" She asks, finishing her food. She stands up and picks up her plate, sending Naruto a glare, "You and Sasuke better hurry up. We are leaving in five minutes, got it?" Naruto nods weakly and rushes into the kitchen, gets two plates, and runs back into the dining room. Naruto hands the other plate to Sasuke, who just arrived in the dining room.

Sakura walks into the kitchen and greets Fugaku, who is sipping on a cup of coffee. She walks back over to the sink and takes over the dishes that Mikoto was working on.

"Sakura-chan, you are the guest, let me do it." Mikoto says, trying to get back in front of the sink. Sakura sends Mikoto a gentle smile and shakes her head.

"No, Mikoto-chan. I visit here often, and Naruto is basically always over here. I think it's the least I can do, okay?" Sakura replies, "Anyways, when we all graduate, we might not be able to see each other as much. We all might be put on different teams, thus making it almost impossible for us to see each other." Sakura explains while finishing the dishes.

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Sakura enters the classroom quietly, standing in between Naruto and Sasuke. She walks over to the empty table and slides all the way to the end while Sasuke slides in next, then Naruto. _Hm.. They are talking again, eh? _Sakura thinks to herself while closing her eyes, ignoring the squealing fan girls.

"Sasuke-kun! You're so cute! Let me marry you? No! I want to have your babies!" A random fan girl screeches, trying to push Naruto out of the way. With that said, more of Sasuke's fan girls start to surround all of them, having them all fight with who will win Sasuke's first kiss.

"Hey," Sakura calls quietly, opening up one eye, "Naruto already stole Sasuke's first kiss. Matter of fact, I'm sure they have shared secret kisses." Sakura mentally smirks to herself while closing her eye again. **You are too sarcastic than you think, Idiot. Or maybe you are finally turning into a sadist? **_Just shut up, alright? I really don't feel like arguing with an idiot. I also don't know what the hell you are. I __**will **__find out! And I'll get rid of you if it's the last thing I do. _

"S-Sakura-chan!" Naruto yells blushing, "The kiss was an accident! We were planning to prank Itachi-nii and w-we tripped. You promised you wouldn't tell anyone!" Sasuke glares at Sakura while crossing his arms over his chest.

"Oh, I'm sorry guys, I just thought it would be nice of me to not let them dream of something that is untrue." Sakura whispers quietly with a small smile, "I do have a picture, if you think they don't believe me."

"Hn," Sasuke grumbles, turning his attention away from his best girl friend with his eye twitching in annoyance.

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X X X

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"Alright class, today is your last day of the academy, tomorrow we get to see who becomes a genin, and who doesn't. I want to say I am proud of all of you, and hope for the best for each and every one of you." Iruka starts, his eyes glazing over the classroom, searching for his favorite student. "I hope you guys do a good job, and I am having a surprise quiz for all of you. I insist that you practice this jutsu if you don't do well. We do want all of you to pass, after all." Iruka smiles more while staring at Naruto Uzumaki, "I want you all to line up and do the shadow clone jutsu."

Everyone in the classroom lines up, letting Sakura go first. She walks into the middle of the room, forms the hand signs, and creates a total of three shadow clones. She watches as Iruka smiles happily and nods his head before dispelling them and walking back to her desk, passing Ami.

"You cheated, you forehead freak!" Ami accuses, pointing a finger at her in annoyance, "You can't create three clones, especially a nobody like you! You come from a civilian family!" Sakura turns around and narrows her eyes at Ami, clutching her fist in annoyance.

"Listen, _Ami-chan_. I'll appreciate if you stop talking to me. I'd rather stop talking to a physco like you - and don't say you aren't. I have proof." Ami opens her mouth, about to reply to her when Sasuke appears in front of Sakura and sends Ami a glare.

"Leave her alone," He orders, wrapping his arm around Sakura's waist protectively and walking her back to their desks. He pushes her down in the seat and forces her to the last seat before sitting down with his eyes closed.

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"Sasuke, you didn't have to do that..." Sakura mumbles under her breath while walking down the street with her boys. "She isn't even suppose to come by me, not after that... incident. The Hokage himself told her to avoid me at all costs." She glances up at Sasuke from the corner of her eye, "After the ANBU told me to leave, he questioned her as to why she did it." Naruto sighs softly and ruffles Sakura's hair playfully.

"Sakura-chan, we already told you that we will always be there to protect you." Naruto reminds her smiling, "Everyone is on your side, too; well, except Ami's little posse."

"She doesn't really need us to protect her, Dope." Sasuke says with his eyes closed, "If you don't remember, she can beat you most of the time, and she defeated me a few times too." Sasuke mumbles the last part with an embarrassing blush on his face. He doesn't like admitting that Sakura can beat him, but he doesn't want Naruto to upset her by saying she needs protected.

"That is true..." Naruto pouts, crossing his arms over his chest, "Hey, Sakura-chan?" Sakura looks over at Naruto and tilts her head to the side, "Are you spending the night at Sasuke's again? Or are you planning to go home to Kenji-san?"

"Oh, I think I'm going to go home today, Naruto." Sakura admits glancing over at Sasuke and smiles gently at him, hiding her laughter. His face is still a soft pink. She turns her attention back to Naruto and gently grabs his hand, "If you want though, I can come over there in the morning to see you?" Naruto shakes his head.

"No!" He shouts, pulling her into a hug and burrying her face in his chest, "Sakura-chan, we are the men, we will come and pick you up tomorrow!" Sasuke sighs softly and closes his eyes tighter. _Why am I their friend again? _Sasuke thinks to himself before hitting Naruto on the head.

"Don't say that so loud, people already think we date." Sasuke growls out, sending Sakura one of the famous Uchiha's glares, "As for you, Sakura, why did you tell them about the accidental kiss?"

"Well..." Sakura giggles, rubbing the back of her head nervously after pushing Naruto away from her, "I kind of let it slip...?" She tries, turning on her heel and running in the other direction, "Oh! Look at the time, I better go see Kenji-sensei!"

"Were you even listening to me, Sasuke?" Naruto growls, clutching his hand into a fist. Sasuke shakes his head and dodges the punch Naruto threw. "Teme!"

"Dope!" And the fight in the street starts.

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"Kenji-sensei," Sakura greets, walking into the house, "I'm home." Sakura takes off her shoes and walks into the kitchen, noticing a note on the table. "Hm?" She asks herself while picking it up and reading. _He'll be home at night, eh? Maybe I'll go take a nap. _Sakura thinks to herself, walking into the living room and laying down on the couch. She went to sleep immediately.

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_Sakura walks through the dark room nervously, holding onto her kunai knife. "Hello? Is anyone here?" She calls. Silence. "Hello? Where am I? Is there anyone alive?!" She calls again, this time louder. _This is weird, why can't I hear anything? I can't even hear my own footsteps. Wherever I look I am greeted with more darkness. This is...confusing! Inner? Can you hear me? _Sakura thinks to herself, trying to get her inner to talk to her. __**Oh Sakura, you are so naïve it's ridiculous. You want me to talk to you, and yet you threaten to find out what I am? You are such a silly little girl. You don't know what I am planning for you, and I can guarantee that you won't like it either. I won't let you find out what I am, little Sakura. When you find out, you won't like it. But it'll be okay little one, I won't let you find out, unless you die. **__Sakura narrows her eyes, listening to her inner self speak, but out loud. "What the hell are you? Why can't I know? Are you something that can endanger my life? I...I have to tell someone about you!" Sakura shouts, feeling something cut her skin, "You aren't an illusion. I know that for a fact," She whimpers, "You've been with me since I was a baby...so what, just what the hell are you?!" __**You are such a silly girl, Sakura-chan. **__Her inner giggles before Sakura gets hit with more kunai knifes, making her bleed everywhere. _

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"Sakura, wake up!" Kenji yells shaking her shoulders roughly, "I need you to get up right now and tell me what's going on." Sakura slowly opens her eyes and stares at Kenji blankly. "Sakura, tell me something, why are you bleeding with cuts all over your skin?"

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_Phew, it's finally done. I want to apologize for updating so late, I'm still kind of sick, but I finally got it done. I'm sorry if it's not much, but I like how I ended it and yes, I've finally put some more plot in, thankfully! I hope you guys liked it, and thank you so much for reviewing and helping me feel better! I want to thank the following for reviewing: **Winged-angel21, MoonlightMidnight, Black n' Blue sun, LostWOLF-KING, 1Animefreakgurl, Dina Sana, MiyatheEarthninja, Find-A-Way-Today, L, Guest (#1), PicturePerfect, SilverThornz, Guest (#2)**_

_Kimi-the-Writer_


	7. Chapter 7

_A.N: Here we go, they finally get put into teams! Thankfully, right? I think I know how - well - when I'm going to end the story. I'm still not sure who she is going to end up with - if she is even going to end up with someone - so I apologize for that. I seem to have a problem with apologizing to my readers though.. when I haven't done anything wrong. Meh, I guess that can't be helped though. I'm actually excited about this chapter since you get to see who her friends are, and who her foes are! I hope you like this chapter and please remember to review! Oh another note, I have to admit that I am obsessing over a new anime, Bleach. I wrote a one-shot for it, but it wasn't anything too big since I just started the anime a few days ago and don't know all the characters well enough to do a decent story. Besides that I think I should let you start to read the chapter, like you wanted too! _

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!**

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Tough

Chapter Seven

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"Sakura, what's with all the bandages wrapped around your arms for?" Naruto asks his her gently while heading towards the Ninja Academy. After Kenji woke her up last night, they found multiple cuts all over her skin; some deeper than others. She told him all about the dream, and they couldn't find out what happened to her, at all.

"Oh you know..." Sakura replies nervously, scratching the back of her head, "Since we are about to become genin, I thought a new look was required!"

"Bandages wrapped all over you like a mummy isn't a fashion sense, Sakura." Sasuke interrupts from the side and rolls his eyes, "You remind me of Ino." Sakura glares at Sasuke in annoyance.

"Nothing is wrong with what I am wearing, jerk!" She huffs out in anger and speeds ahead of them, entering the Academy. She storms passed Sasuke's fan girls and sits down in her normal seat with her cheeks puffing out. Her new outfit isn't bad, at least in her own opinion. It's short black mid-thigh shorts, a black belly shirt with the Haruno symbol in between her shoulder blades, bandages wrapped around her stomach and arms, and she has on her black high heel kunoichi shoes.

"She may have somewhat of the same style as her, Sasuke, but she looks one hundred percent better." Naruto mumbles sliding into the seat next to her.

"I am not sitting on the outside." Sasuke growls, his right eye twitching, "Move it over, Naruto."

"Oh yeah? How about you make me, Teme!" Naruto growls back. Sasuke narrows his eyes, getting into a silent argument with him.

"Oh, you boys are too competitive sometimes!" Sakura complains, leaning back on the chair and closing her eyes.

"Oh, Saku, new look I see." Kiba Inuzaka says throwing her his famous toothy grin, "You look hot, and I have to say, the color black matches you perfectly." Sakura opens her eyes and stares into Kiba's own soft brown eyes before laughing.

"Oh, Kiba-kun!" She greets sending him a small smile, "It's nice to see you again. How's Akamaru? And thanks, I'm glad _someone _likes my new look. The two idiots are being mean and cruel to me. Can you believe that?" She pouts, staring at the seat next to him, "Hey, Kiba-kun... Can I sit next to you?" Kiba nods, letting his shaggy brown hair cover his eyes.

"You're always allowed to sit next to me, cupcake! Akamaru is great, he misses you. I would let you see him today, but he's having a check up with my older sister, Hana." Kiba informs her watching Sakura climb over the table and sitting right next to him. "Any plans today?"

"Well, after the graduation exams, I'm planning to invite all of you guys out to eat to celebrate. Of course, it'll only be for lunch since your parents might want to do something else with you later on." Sakura tells him sending him a sweet smile, "I'm hoping you are willing to join. We already took our written exam earlier today, so the only thing left is the jutsu they are going to make us do."

"Who are you going to invite?" Kiba asks, resting his head on his palm.

"Oh," Sakura mumbles, "Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Chouji, Hinata, and you!" Kiba nods.

"Alright class! It's time for your final exam. When I call your name, I want you to come into the next room and do the required jutsu. If you can not perform it, I'm sorry to say this but you fail. Even if you did great on the writing portion. If you did bad on the writing portion but great on the jutsu, you have a small chance of passing. So I hope you all studied like I told you too! Good luck. Shino, you are up first." Iruka announces to the class. Shino, the student who was called, stands up and follows Iruka into the other classroom.

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"Shino?" Sakura calls, walking over to him, "I know you we don't know each other much, but I was wondering if you would like to join me and a few of our classmates to the dango shop for a congratulations lunch party?" Shino glances down at the female in front of him, and raises his eyebrow.

"I suppose it won't hurt, Sakura." Shino admits, "Are we leaving now?"

"Yes we are! Thank you so much for accepting my offer, Shino." She says smiling happily. "We are meeting the rest of the group outside. Would you like to come with me?" Shino nods and walks side by side with her, heading towards the court-yard of the Academy.

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Sakura enters the dango shop with her friends and sits down at a table with Sasuke on her right and Naruto to her left. She glances around the table and smiles, happy to see the rest of her friends.

"I want to thank you all for joining me. I know your parents wanted to go with your parents, but you were nice enough to eat lunch with with me. I want to congratulate all of you for passing, especially you, Naruto-kun!" Sakura says giggling at the last part, "I know a speech isn't necessary, but we are all about to be full fledge ninja's, so we won't have a lot of time together. I was hoping that we can decide on a date to meet and train together? At least once a week?" She asks hopefully, tilting her head to the side.

"Of course we can come up with a date, Sakura." Kiba says laughing, sending her a wink, "We wouldn't be able to survive without seeing our cherry blossom. Especially them." Kiba mumbles the last part, tilting his head at Naruto and Sasuke.

"You are allowed to join us too, Shino!" Sakura informs smiling, "We would all be thrilled with you joining us every week." Shino nods.

After the waitress brings all of the food, they all start to eat with a little chatter every so often.

"Sasuke-kun! I'm so glad to see you here!" Ino squeals, running towards the group. She glances over at Sakura and scowls, "Oh look, the whores are surrounded by men. You are never going to be able to find someone to be your other half, girls. Sasuke-kun is mine, and he'll always be mine!" Hinata, who is sitting next to Naruto, growls softly under her breath, sending Ino a glare.

"You don't have the right to call her a whore, Ino. You are the one who throws herself at different men. I remember how you had a crush on Kiba-kun for how long? You even tried to kiss Shikamaru after a few hours of sitting with him." Hinata growls out, crossing her arms over her chest, "Now, I suggest you beat it, haven't you heard what they did to Ami? They will never forgive you if you mess with Sakura, ever."

"Oh, shut up! They don't like you Hinata! The only reason why you are even here is because of Sakura. What ever happened to the shy, stuttering Hinata anyways?" Ino asks, glaring down at the girl.

"Simple. I met Sakura, and I was sick of you treating me like I'm not important. I am important, and I deserve better than how you treat me. Just like Sakura does, and Naruto. You basically treat this group like trash if they aren't hot, and if they aren't guys. If you get stuck with them as a teammate, you are going to have one hard time. The boys here don't like girls who complain about being tired, or how hot it is. They love girls who actually train and try to improve." She smiles sweetly up at Ino, "I do want to tell you this, though. They will most likely never like you, since you are always mean to Sakura. One thing about these boys, they are very protective over Sakura. Matter of fact we all are." Hinata explains sweetly.

"Oh, Hinata-chan, you know we are protective over you too!~" Naruto adds, standing up and giving Hinata the biggest hug ever. "If you hurt either girl - in any way - you will have all of us as your enemy, Ino." Ino turns to Sasuke, sending him a sad, puppy dog look.

"Sasuke-kun, don't you love me?" Ino cries out, trying to pull him into a hug.

"Leave us alone, Ino." Sasuke orders, crossing his arms over his chest, "You're annoying." Ino runs out of the shop in tears.

"Well, princess, I'm going to go." Kiba announces, paying for his food, "Shino's going to join me." Shino nods, paying his share, too.

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The next day, Sakura enters the Academy building alone, and sits down next to her friend, Shikamaru. She tilts her head to the side, noticing him sleeping.

"Oh, Shikamaru, what are we suppose to do with you?" Sakura asks, rolling her eyes. She leans back in her chair and watches as the kids start to pile in, surrounding the normal table the trio sit in.

"Not with Naruto and Sasuke today? Troublesome woman..." Shikamaru mumbles, waking up. He glances over at Sakura and smiles gently. She's in her new outfit, with her headband around her upper left arm, almost how he has it. "Stealing my fashion sense now, Saku?" He asks, sending her a boyish smirk.

"Heh, you wish, Shikamaru! If I stole your fashion sense, that means we all stole someone's fashion sense in a way." Sakura replies, winking at him. "My boys will probably be storming through the door soon when they find out I didn't wait for them. So I'll go sit in our spot. Even though it's only right in front of us." Sakura gives Shikamaru a hug before jumping over the table and sitting in the middle.

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"Shikamaru, I can't believe they scolded me for twenty minutes... twenty minutes!" Sakura whines, leaning back and staring up at Shikamaru, who is looking down at her with a lazy smile, rolling his eyes.

"You did ditch them, Saku." He mumbles, closing his eyes, "I'm going to sleep until Iruka-sensei arrives here..."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Shikamaru. I'm here now." Iruka interrupts, walking passed them, grinning when he heard Shikamaru mumble 'troublesome man' under his breath. "I want to congratulate all of you for passing the exam! You all did great; you were all a good class, too! I'm going to stand here in front of you, and announce your teammates. You will be with them for a long time, so I hope you do well." Iruka announces.

"Teammates?" Some classmates whisper to each other while Iruka begins to read off the list.

"Team seven; Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno!" Iruka shouts, grinning when he saw them all sigh in relief, "Team eight; Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzaka, and Shino Aburame." There were whispers all throughout the room, mostly talking about how team seven is a set up. "Team ten, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Chouji Akimichi!" He finishes, watching Shikamaru groan, Chouji eating, and Ino crying. "Thank you, you all need to go out for lunch now, and then come back to meet your teachers! Best of luck, guys!" The classroom immediately empties when he finishes.

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_Well, there it is. It was longer than I thought, and I had to cut some things out of my story so I apologize for that. Ooh, here I am, apologizing again! Sigh, I'm so troublesome. I know Hinata is not... Hinata-ish, but you might see some flashbacks in the future to explain why. I hope you review! I want to thank the following people for reviewing; __**Dina Sana, Black n' Blue sun, and MiyatheEarthninja! **__Hopefully I get more reviews this time? _

_Kimi-the-Writer_


	8. Chapter 8

_A.N: Ahhh, this chapter was pretty fun to write. I was actually smiling when I wrote it. I hope you guys enjoy it! The only other thing I can think about is: I hope you review! _

**Discliamer: I do not own Naruto**

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Tough

Chapter Eight

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"Where is he?" Naruto grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes, laying down ontop of the desk, "Shikamaru's team left, Kiba's team left, matter of fact, Ami's team left!" Naruto puffs his cheeks out in annoyance, "Iruka-sensei even ditched us!"

"Oh, be quiet, Naruto." Sakura mumbles, resting her head on Sasuke's shoulder, "We are just as annoyed as you are, we are waiting here too, silly." Sakura then, stretches her legs out underneith the desk and blows some of her bangs out of her face.

"What else am I suppose to do then? I believe I have the right to complain. He has already made us wait for a couple of hours. If he isn't here in the next five minutes I am leaving. I'm dragging you guys too, rather you like it or not." Naruto informs, sticking his tongue out at them childishly.

"If you leave Naruto, you will never be able to become a ninja. How do you know our sensei is a 'he' anyways?" Sakura replies, rolling her eyes, "Are you trying to tell me girls can't be great ninjas?" Sasuke glances over at Sakura and shakes his head. _Why that little brat. She's trying to make Naruto guilty. _He turns his gaze to Naruto, who 's looking at her with fear in his eyes, _and it's working. Sadly, I'd probably fall for it too. _Sasuke thinks, resting his chin on his folded hands.

"I-I'm sorry Sakura-chan! You know you and Hinata are awesome at fighting! Please, oh please don't give me that look anymore! You can beat me and Sasuke at times, so you are obvious good!" Naruto tries, not noticing the sensei entering.

"Oh? The female ninja can defeat both of you guys?" A male says, raising his eyebrow in amusement. He has long, spikey white hair, and dark eyes. His head band is tilted to the left, covering his eye. He also has a mask that covers his lower-half face. He's also wearing the standard jonin outfit.

"Oh, so the sensei finally decided to show up?" Sakura grumbles, sending her new sensei an evil glare, "It took you long enough." She huffs, lifting her head up from Sasuke's shoulder.

"Hmm..." The male mumbles, raising his eyebrow higher, "My first impression of you, girl, is that I hate you." He smiles lightly under his mask, even though they can't see it. "Meet me up on the roof." He forms a hand sign and teleports away, leaving them alone.

"The sensei hates you, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouts, laughing and holding onto his sides, "You did insult him though, so you did deserve it. Why are you so cranky now, anyways?"

"Naruto..." Sakura whispers angrily, "Shut up." She stands up and quickly runs out of the room, leaving the boys in her dust. Naruto turns to Sasuke, waits for him to stand up, before racing him to the top.

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"I want you all to introduce yourself, and before you even ask, girl, I will tell you what I want you to say." The sensei informs, watching Sakura close her mouth and cross her arms over her chest, "Tell me what your name is, likes, hates, dreams, and hobbies."

"How about you go first?" Naruto asks, noticing Sakura glaring daggers at the other male.

"My name is Kakashi Hatake, I like many things, and dislike a few. I haven't thought of my dream really; as for hobby, I have a lot of them." The male, Kakashi, says smiling.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like eating ramen, but I hate waiting for the three minutes for it to cook! My hobby is training with teme and Sakura-chan, and pranking! My dream is to become the best Hokage in the village, ever! I want to be respected by everyone, and show them they have no right to treat me like trash!" Naruto introduces himself, adjusting his headband happily. Kakashi nods, signaling for the next one to go.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like tomatoes, training, competing with Itachi and Naruto, and winning against Sakura. I hate losing to Sakura, and the color orange." He narrows his eyes at Naruto's outfit, "It's a very distracting color, and it can lure anyone to pay attention to you - not good for a mission, dope. - My hobby is training with Sakura, Naruto, and sometimes Itachi. My dream is to become the best ninja in the world, and to be able to protect those who I love." Sasuke mumbles the last bit to himself with a small smile on his lips. He may be cold to everyone outside his group, but everyone who is inside his group knows better. He is a very caring guy who is very protective over those who he loves.

"And last?" Kakashi asks, looking over at the female of the group, who is still glaring at him.

"Sakura Haruno." Sakura introduces herself, not answering anymore of his questions. Kakashi stares into her green eyes curiously, waiting for her to continue. She only shakes her head at him, sending him a smirk that he sees only Uchiha's using, "I guess you should of thought about what you said first, you aren't getting any information out of me, jerk." She informs him.

"Well, I guess that doesn't really matter anyways, _Sakura_." Kakashi chuckles, sending her a grin, "After all, you guys will most likely fail."

"What?" Naruto demands, pointing at him accusingly, "What do you mean we most likely won't be able to pass?"

"Oh?" Kakashi asks, tilting his head to the side, "Out of all of you who graduate, only nine of you will pass. You have a sixty-six percent chance of failing. We will be able to find out if you pass tomorrow, with a survival test. I suggest you guys don't eat breakfast. I want you to meet me tomorrow in training ground seven, at five in the morning."

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"Well, your adopted daughter is certainly interesting, Kenji." Kakashi mumbles, flipping a page in his book and glances over at his partner, who is Sakura's guardian.

"Aa, you insulted her, didn't you?" Kenji asks, sending him a smirk, "She's a feisty girl, and she has her protective boys around her most of the time." He watches as Kakashi stare at him blankly, "I'm not just talking about the Uchiha and Uzumaki. She has the other male members of team eight and ten wrapped around her finger, I'm pretty sure Itachi and Shisui are protective over her too."

"So, she's a heart-breaker?"

"Not really. She doesn't seem too interested in finding a boyfriend." Kenji mumbles, running his hand through his head sighing, "I really hope she doesn't get interested in any of them. I have a feeling some of them have a crush on her, but it's hard to tell. So I'm going to need you to keep tabs on her when she passes your test. Understand?"

"When she passes?" Kakashi asks, chuckling, "I doubt they will be able to pass, Kenji."

"Uh huh, I'm pretty sure they will. They have a natural act of teamwork." Kenji replies happily, "Sakura has an act of leading, and she's pretty smart, she can usually plan for missions quickly. Not to mention - when they train with me and Sakura - they work together. If you are planning to do the bell test like you usually do, they will pass. As long as they keep their heads clear; I highly doubt that they want to go ahead of each other."

"We'll just have to see, won't we, Kenji?" Kakashi hums, standing up. He waves his hand lazily before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"Sakura, if you lose, I promise you that your training will be twenty times worse. No, make that one hundred times worse!" Kenji mumbles, crossing his arms over his chest and glancing over at another ninja.

* * *

X X X

* * *

"Good luck, Saku-chan, and remember what I've told you throughout the whole time you've trained with me. I can't tell you what, but that doesn't mean I can't give you a hint." Kenji explains, sending her a small smile, "I also wanted to tell you, that you've met Kakashi before. He actually watched you for a couple of days when I was sent on a mission."

"You mean he was the pervert with the orange book?" Sakura gasps, her small hand covering her mouth, "I knew he looked familiar! And that jerk was so rude to me!" She growls out, her left eye twitching, "He's going through hell." She turns on her heel and storms away, leaving her guardian chuckling.

"Oh, Kakashi, you are screwed. An angry Sakura is not one to deal with - just wait until she starts her..." He stops and shivers, "Those weeks are going to be like going through hell."

* * *

X X X

* * *

Sakura hums softly to herself while walking through the streets, heading towards the Uchiha compound. She knew Sasuke's probably having a hard time getting Naruto up. _He never was a morning person, after all. _Sakura thinks, smiling lightly. Sakura stops in front of the gates and nods at the guards. They immediately let her in, and she continues to walk towards the main household.

"Sakura-hime! It's so good to see you again!" An Uchiha yells, landing right in front of her. He wraps his arms around her waist and picks her up, spinning her around. "I missed you so very much! I was so disappointed when I was sent out on a mission - the night you decided to spend the night, too! What rotten luck do I have, eh?" The Uchiha continues walking towards the main household, "Picking up the brats again? You graduated, didn't you? So you're probably taking a test today. It's kind of early for that though... It's only four in the morning, princess." He grins at her.

"You are giving me such a bad headache, Shisui-chan. I don't see how you are a Uchiha. Most of you are emotionless walking ice cubes. Sasuke isn't though, and neither is Itachi-chan..." She taps her chin lightly, "Mikoto-chan is definietly not Uchiha-like. Fugaku-sama smiles at me occasionally." She gasps, "I make you Uchiha's un-Uchiha like!" She concludes, giggling. He rolls his eyes and walks into the house.

"Mikoto-chan! I brought someone here; I'm sure you'll be thrilled to have her here!" Shisui announces, setting Sakura down on the ground. He bends over and places his forehead on hers, "Of course you make us 'un-Uchiha like!'. You just break our hearts, princess. We'll all do anything to protect you. Not to mention if something does happen to you, Mikoto-chan will murder us all." Shisui places a small kiss on her cheek, smirking the famous Uchiha smirk when he saw her cheeks tinting pink.

"What did you do to Sakura, Shisui?" Itachi asks, walking downstairs, staring at her blushing cheeks. "Why are you blushing?" He asks, raising his eyebrow curiously.

"Oh, Itachi," Shisui greets, smiling brightly, "I didn't do anything to the poor girl. I think she's just now realizing how hot us Uchiha's tend to be. After all," He glances into Sakura's eyes, smirking, "She makes us 'un-Uchiha like'." Sakura growls lowly under her breath.

"Shut up, Shisui!" Sakura grumbles, storming pass Itachi, heading towards Naruto's room, "Don't you dare speak a word, either of you!"

"So, what _did _you do?" Itachi questions, standing right next to Shisui.

"Kissed her forehead, flirted a little I suppose." Shisui answers, shrugging, "What can I say? She's a cute girl. And she looks ten times better blushing."

"Sasuke is going to murder you, when he finds out." Itachi walks into the kitchen and greets his mother with Shisui sliding in next to him.

* * *

X X X

* * *

"Your mom made a great breakfast, Sasuke." Sakura says happily, sitting ontop of the tree stomp, "I'm glad they talked us into eating." Naruto nods in agreement while laying on his back.

"Aa, why did you blush every time Shisui talked to you?" Sasuke questions, his left eye twitching.

"I-I wasn't, idiot." Sakura mumbles, looking away from him.

"You were too, Sakura-chan. We both saw you." Naruto says, raising his eyebrow, "Do you finally have a crush on someone? You _do _hang out with a lot of guys after all. It's no surprise that you start to develop a crush for someone..."

"I-I don't have a crush on him, Naruto! I don't have a crush on any of you yet, so s-shut up!" Sakura yells, jumping off of the stomp and pinning Naruto to the ground with his arms over his head, "N-Now shut u-up and don't speak of this again!" Sakura orders while Sasuke picks her up.

"You're such pain in the ass, Sakura. Sometimes I wonder why we even became friends." Sasuke mumbles.

"Naruto wouldn't leave me alone, and if I remember correctly you too worked very hard to earn my friendship." Sakura answers sweetly. "I'm going to take a nap now, since Kakashi-sensei won't show up anytime soon, but when he does, I'm making him go through hell..." She mumbles closing her eyes. Sasuke sighs and sits down on the ground, leaning against the stomp with her curled up in a ball on his lap, sleeping. Naruto takes off his jacket and places it over her body.

"Just imagine the trouble we are going to have when she does start liking someone, Sasuke." Naruto softly says, "I really am wondering if she likes someone, and is just too scared to say anything." Sasuke shrugs, unsure of how to answer.

* * *

X X X

* * *

_Well, there you go! I know, I know, I still need to get the test over with, but I thought this would be a great place to end it! There was a little harmless flirting, but nothing too big. I am really curious with who you want her to end up with? - If she ends up with anyone - Who knows, maybe she'll just have a few romantic scenes? Without her becoming a whore, of course. Hinata wasn't able to get in this chapter, but I'm pretty sure next chapter I will be able to put her in! Along with Kiba's team and Shikamaru's team. I can also tell you that Ami will be in the next chapter, so I hope you get excited over that! _

_Aa, yes, Kakashi knows Kenji, and he used to watch Sakura over when she was little, of course, she doesn't remember him since she was almost always training, reading, or hanging out with her friends. I am looking forward to this story. I know how 'Inner' hasn't been in it much, but she'll be in it more within time. Matter of fact, next chapter she will appear. I doubt many of you read these, so if you did, congratulations to you! You were able to find a few hints over the next chapter. I'm happy to say my story is almost completed. Well, I suppose it's like 1/3rd of the way through. I'm not sure how many chapters you should be expecting, but I am pretty sure it will be finished within the next few months._

_Thank you for reviewing: **Dina Sana, MoonlightJasmine, and Black n' Blu sun! **I also want to thank everyone for following and favoriting this story!_

_Kimi-the-Writer_


	9. Chapter 9

_A.N: I know, I know. It's shorter than usual! I am planning to update sometime over the weekend, to make up for this small chapter. I would of written more, but I feel like you've waited long enough for this, but I've been too busy with studying for my finals. I hope you'll enjoy this and don't destroy me later on for this. I believe this is the shortest chapter I've written for this story yet; since it's not even over 2,000 words. Oh well, not much I can do. I actually took off some of my studying time to finish this, so... I'm sorry, it's not what you expected. Enjoy, and review though!_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

* * *

Tough

Chapter Nine

* * *

X X X

* * *

Kakashi teleports into a tree a few feet away from his team and sigh, shaking his head. He jumps down from the tree and walks up behind them, resting his elbow lazily on the stomp and tilting his head to the side. Instead of finding irritated children, he found them all sleeping - in each others arms - much to his surprise. He shakes his head lightly and glances down at them. Naruto Uzumaki has his father's crazy blond hair and bright blue eyes; his outfit is horrible for a ninja though. An orange jumpsuit with the Uzumaki seal on the back, blue ninja shoes, and his headband on his forehead. Sasuke Uchiha has a chicken butt hairstyle with black hair - that has a blue tint to it. He has white shorts, a dark blue high collar shirt, blue ninja shoes, and his band is also on his forehead. Sakura Haruno has long light pink hair that is in two low piggy tails with her bangs covering her left eye, and beautiful green eyes that usually change in shade depending on her mood. Her headband is on her left upper arm.

"Oh, you finally arrived, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura yawns out, using the back of her hand to wipe her eyes. "You tell us to arrive at five, and you just now get here?" She looks up at the sky narrowing her eyes, "Five hours later." She sits up and groans, feeling Sasuke's arm tighten around her.

"Sorry, I ran into a black cat, I had to come here the long way." Kakashi lies smoothly, grinning under his mask when he heard her groan, "Someone doesn't want you up, eh?" Sakura rolls her eyes and gently slides out of Sasuke's grip before standing up. She walks over to Kakashi and pouts

"Kenji-chan told me that we met before. You were the old pervert who always read that weird orange book. Not to mention you locked me inside my room just so I can't get into trouble. Too bad for you, I snuck out and you got in trouble, so ha!" She grins walking over to Naruto and kicking his side gently, "Naru-kun, get up." She orders, using the nick name to wake him up. Naruto immediately wakes up. He wipes the sleep away from his eyes while Sakura goes over to Sasuke. "Sasu-chan, you gotta wake up now." Sakura whispers into his ear after leaning down, her lips brushing against his ear. Sasuke's eyes open slowly.

"Now that you all are ready, we will start the test." Kakashi informs them, placing a clock on top of the middle stomp, "This test is really easy to understand. All you have to do is get these bells from me. The two who get them pass while the third one gets sent back to the academy." Kakashi instructs, holding two silver bells in his hand, shaking them. "You all can fail and be sent back to the academy though. Another thing, if you expect to get these, you better come at me with the content to kill, or else you will be in danger." Kakashi closes his eyes, forming an upside down 'U'.

"There are only two bells, how is that fair? Unless you are trying to tell us that one of us have to fail." Naruto whispers, his eyes widening, "No way! How can you put a team against each other? Aren't we suppose to work together?!" Naruto shouts.

"Only two of you will pass, Naruto. It probably won't be you though, you are the loudest, after all." Kakashi smiles, "Ready...set..." Naruto immediately pounces at Kakashi, only to get pushed on the ground and sat on, "I haven't even said go yet, Naruto." Kakashi mumbles, "I'm starting to like you now though!" He stands up and puts his foot on Naruto's back, "Ready set, go!" He yells, forming a hand sign and disappearing, leaving a cloud of dust.

* * *

X X X

* * *

Kakashi leans against the tree with his arms crossed over his chest, and his eyes in his perverted book. He looks up every once in a while, making sure one of his students aren't trying to pull a sneak attack. _Heh, how weird. Usually the teams are fighting against each other. Every attack they've done so far has been together, even though it's just something as little as throwing a kunai knife at me. Which Sakura did... _Kakashi thinks, shaking his head in defeat. He closes his book and puts it in his pocket, smirking lightly. _If they aren't coming to me, I'll go after them, heh. _Kakashi closes his eyes and finds their chakra signatures after a few seconds. He nods once to himself before taking off, heading towards Sakura, determined to catch her off guard.

* * *

X X X

* * *

"He's coming, guys." Sakura mumbles to her friends through an ear piece, hearing them reply back, "I think he's heading towards me, we are going with plan red, okay?" She hears them reply once more before stopping, a kunai knife landing in front of her. "Is that all you got, Kakashi-sensei?" She asks, smirking up at Kakashi while lazily flipping to get distance between them. "I'm kind of disappointed, Kenji-sensei has been better than this..." Kakashi's eye twitches lightly at the thought, making her giggle. "Oh, boys are always so over sensitive when it's about their rivals!"

"Sakura..." Kakashi grumbles, reaching into his weapon pouch and pulling out his favorite book, "Well, aren't you going to attack? You talk big but don't do anything to back it up. Oh yeah, I forgot, you get your boys to do everything you want." Kakashi taunts, staring down at his book and reading one of the famous smut paragraphs.

"Are you trying to hint on that I'm a whore, Kakashi-sensei?" She asks sweetly, shutting off her ear piece, "If so, I am sorry to say this, but you'll about to regret ever taking that book out in front of me. Pervert." She taunts back, taking a small step towards him before pulling out her own kunai knives and tossing it at him carelessly; Kakashi immediately dodges them.

"Easy," He mumbles, turning the next page. Sakura stares at him before smirking, her eyes dancing with happiness. _He's underestimating us, and the other boys will be here soon enough. They better hurry though, I really can't wait to see sensei's face... _She thinks to herself before chuckling.

Suddenly, Kakashi jumps back, watching as the ground explodes underneath him. He turns his attention to the two males running up at him.

"So you _were _waiting for them." He says calmly, dodging some of the attacks the Uchiha threw. Naruto, however, snuck up behind him and held him into a headlock while Sasuke tackled them both to the ground. Sakura calmly skips over to them and kneels in front of Kakashi, picking up his perverted book out of his hand.

"Let's go, boys." She orders, sending Kakashi a smirk before jumping into the trees and running away, leading them towards a spot with a fire. After the boys left, Kakashi sighs. _Why the hell did she take the book and not the bells?! _Kakashi gets up and follows after them.

* * *

X X X

* * *

"Kenji-chan! You should of saw his face, it was priceless!" Sakura giggles, sitting down and eating dinner with her friend. "He was in anime tears I tell you! Then he muttered how he will avenge his book," She rolls her eyes, "Stupid, isn't he? He shouldn't be reading about smut in front of his innocent little students. He's lucky I didn't do worse to the book." Kenji chuckles, shaking his head in amusement. His 'daughter' came home and told him how her team passed, soon after Kakashi was banging at his door, demanding money to buy a new book. Apparently, Kakashi said something to piss the cherry blossom off, and she ripped the pages in front of them while throwing it into a fire.

"I think you're turning into a sadist, Sakura." He comments nicely, giving her a thumbs up, "You are doing great!" Sakura grins brightly, nodding.

"He deserves it! He's been insulting me everyday!" She whines, crossing her arms over her chest. "I have to go to sleep now though." Sakura stands up and exits the kitchen, heading towards her room. She lays down in her bed and slowly closes her eyes, drifting off to sleep.

* * *

X X X

* * *

_Sakura walks around a dark forest nervously, observing the grounds all around her. She has no clue how she got here, but she knows one thing for sure; It isn't safe. She can smell the blood in the air, and hear the screams of children. _Welcome to my home, Saku-chan!~ _Inner purrs out happily, stepping in front of Sakura and blocking her view. _I am happy to have you see where you'll be stuck at when I take control. _Inner giggles, _I can take over your whole body, and make you do whatever I wish. That is why my master put me into you, after all. _Sakura narrows her emerald-green eyes at her, growling lightly under her breath, "Why don't you shut up, Inner? What is your name anyways? You can't tell me it's inner Sakura anymore since you admitted someone put you inside of me for a reason! Explain!" Sakura demands, only to feel a kunai knife hit her cheek painfully. _In this world, I am in control, you better remember that well, freak. I've been stuck inside of you for years, and I'm sick of it. I will get out, and when I do I will destroy your precious friends. After kissing them possibly, you have a lot of cute friends; I'll ruin Hinata's determination, too. _Sakura glares, "How the hell do I get out of this place?" She asks. "You will not touch anyone I know! I will destroy you, demon." _I'll believe it when I see it, Sakura-chan! I would like to give you a welcome home gift though. Enjoy. _Suddenly, Sakura passes out, blood seeping out of her head. _

* * *

_X X X_

* * *

Sakura wakes up the next morning, groaning in pain. She puts her hand behind her head, feeling a bump. She sniffs the air and smells her own blood. _What the hell did she do? _Sakura asks herself silently, sitting up and grabbing her clothes, heading towards the bathroom. She enters and quickly takes a shower; she walks back into her room dressed and picks up her blankets, planning to clean them up.

"Sakura, what's with the blood on your blankets?" Kenji asks curiously, watching Sakura turn bright red and running off, heading towards the laundry room, "Oh, did she start..?" He asks, his eyes widening, "And Kakashi thought he went through hell yesterday..."

* * *

X X X

* * *

Kakashi groans quietly to himself and sits up, rubbing the back of his head. He can't believe he actually passed his team; a bunch of idiots, in his own opinion. He closes his eyes and rubs his left eye, sighing loudly. His female teammate burnt his favorite book, in front of him, and laughed! He was going to get pay back on her, and it's going to be worse than what she did. He was sure of it. Kakashi climbs out of his bed and changes into his clothes, heading towards the memorial stone. He has to pay respect to his former teammates, and tell them about his new team.

* * *

X X X

* * *

_Anyways, there it is! I'm hoping the next chapter is better, I know what's going to be in it, I just have to sit down and actually have time to type it, you know? I'm not going to lie to you guys either, I actually started another story, for The Prince of Tennis. So I've been working on that (Even though I haven't published it yet. I'm hoping to get further in this story, and get to at least chapter five before publishing. Um.. I can't really think of anything else to say except I hope to update over the weekend! Thanks, and please remember to review! _

_Before I forget, I would like to thank the following for reviewing: **Splitheart1120, Black n' Blue sun, Guest, MiyatheEarthninja, Neko-Renku, Dina Sana, Guest, Angelpanda-chan, Poobear07, Guest, Guest, Maria Winchester!**_

_Kimi-the-writer_


	10. Chapter 10

_A.N: I know, I'm late on my update, so I'm sorry about that. We were in the negative digits though with the weather, and I decided to be a lazy bum and sleep like all day to stay warm. I'm working on the next chapter as we speak, but I thought you deserved at least this chapter. I feel kind of bad for the somewhat short chapter, but I hope it'll do. Please review!_

_Another thing, I don't think I'll have an actually couple in this story, I'm getting close to the end, and I can't think of someone for her to end up with. Now, she might go on a date or something at the end of the story, but other than that I don't know, honestly. This story is more focused on friendship and adventure anyways. _

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

Tough

Chapter Ten

* * *

X X X

* * *

"Sakura!" Hinata yells, sending her best friend a bright smile, "I've missed you so much. I'm glad to hear that your team and Shikamaru's passed with us. It would have been terrible if we all didn't pass, don't you agree?" Sakura smiles gently at Hinata and nods, pulling Hinata into a hug.

"I have to agree with you there, Hinata; I would have been heart-broken." Sakura replies, walking towards a tree and leaning against it with her arms crossed over her chest, "Let's hope the other's get here soon. I want to congratulate all of them and train. Ino isn't suppose to come with the boys, is she?" Hinata shrugs lightly and stands next to Sakura.

"I don't know, Sakura. I hope she doesn't, I'm not in the mood to deal with her hanging all over Sasuke or teasing one of us. I feel bad for Shikamaru and Chouji. I wonder how they are doing with her..."

"She's trying to become the leader of the group; claiming she's the best and that it's the only way for us to survive." Shikamaru answers, stopping behind the girls and yawning loudly, "Troublesome girl; if you ask me."

"Yeah," Chouji mumbles, stuffing his face with more chips, "Asuma-sensei says we need to work on teamwork more, but besides that we are doing fine. He did say Ino needs to train more, but that's something we expected."

"Your parents are happy, aren't they?" Sakura asks curiously, tilting her head to the side, "Ino's dad, Shikamaru's dad, and Chouji's dad were teammates before, right?"

"I suppose they are; I think they want Ino to end up with one of us." Shikamaru grumbles, sighing loudly, "When are the other idiots showing up? Why aren't Sasuke and Naruto with you, Sakura?"

"They aren't always with me, jerk," Sakura grumbles, sending Shikamaru a glare, "I can be by myself once in a while. I don't need protection."

"I never said that." Shikamaru stats, staring into her eyes, "You've been acting a bit different lately, ever since we passed the academy. Are you okay?"

"He is right about that, Sakura." Hinata adds before Sakura can deny their accusations. "You've been wearing bandages around your arms all the time now, and your head has a cut on it; that you are failing miserably at hiding it." Sakura sighs softly.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Sakura mumbles, closing her eyes and sliding to the ground, trying to take a quick nap before the others arrive.

* * *

X X X

* * *

"Guys, I think Sakura's hiding something big from us," Hinata whispers after everyone arrives, "And be quiet, don't yell, or run over towards her. We are trying to figure her out, okay?" She glances over at Naruto, giving him a warning glance. "You guys are with her more than us, wanna tell us what she's been up too?"

"I see her in the library all the time," Sasuke answers, rubbing his chin and closing his eyes, "Her 'father' is with her all the time now, too." Naruto nods in agreement.

"I think she's worried about what we'll think. If bluntly ask her, I don't think we'll get an answer. Me and Sasuke will need to spy on her, I suppose."

"I wonder what has Princess like this though; I know this is weird, but her scent around her changes sometimes. It's not always her natural scent." Kiba adds, shrugging his shoulders, "It usually only lasts for a few minutes - when she's spacing out - and then Sakura's scent takes over." He looks down at Akamaru and tilts his head, listening to the dog bark in agreement, "Akamaru says he can smell the scent most of the time; even when we were smaller, but it's been coming out a lot more lately." Shikamaru closes his eyes and listens to everyone closely with a frown on his face. Sakura is hiding something for them, and he fears that it's something bad.

"Kiba," Shikamaru asks, "What do you feel around the strange scent?"

"It kind of frightens us," Kiba answers immediately, "It has this dark-like quality. I honestly wouldn't want to fight her when she's like that." Shikamaru nods once and rubs the back of his head, sighing.

"Troublesome woman," He grumbles while laying down on the ground and glancing up at the clouds, watching them roll through the sky.

"I just hope for the best," Hinata says gently, glancing over at the sleeping pinkette with a frown, "Sasuke, Naruto, you guys better take good care of her."

* * *

X X X

* * *

"Kenji-chan," Sakura greets, walking into the house with a new stack of books. She closes the door and enters the kitchen, setting down the new stack, "I got some more books. Thanks for helping me," Kenji looks up at her and nods, sending her a small, sad smile.

"No problem, Sakura." He tells her, ruffling her hair playfully, "How was training with the gang?" She shrugs lightly.

"It was pretty good, I defeated Hinata and Kiba again." She smiles happily and takes a seat next to him, "Did I tell you about my dream earlier?" She asks suddenly, her voice becoming softer.

"No, what did she say this time?" Kenji asks, putting the book down and staring into his daughter's eyes worryingly.

"She said someone put her inside of me, Kenji; she wants to take control over my body! What am I suppose to do? Who could have put that... that thing inside of me?!" Sakura shouts, tugging on her hair nervously, "What if I can't control her, Kenji? What if she comes out when I'm on a mission?!"

"Sakura," He orders, his voice cold and stern, "You need to calm down; that's right, take deep breaths," He instructs, stroking her head softly, letting her calm down. "We'll find out what's going on, okay? I'm going to tell Kakashi about it, just so he knows."

"No!" Sakura argues, shaking her head, "He'll find out if something makes me feel unsafe. For now, I now she can inflict damage to me and me alone; I refuse to let them now right now." She closes her eyes and rubs the back of her head, wincing, "I don't feel safe sleeping anymore; I think I shouldn't sleep anymore."

"You need sleep, isn't your first mission tomorrow?" Kenji asks, picking her up bridal style and carrying her into her room, smirking when she complains loudly. "Here, sleep tight." He says, dropping her on her bed and walking out of the room.

"Jerk!" Sakura insults, curling up into a ball and covering herself up. She will not let her 'inner' self take over her body; oh no, she'll do anything to stay in control. "Good night," She whispers softly, closing her eyes and falling into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

X X X

* * *

"Stop laughing at me, Saku-chan!" Naruto cries, holding onto his nose with a small pout forming, "That demon of a cat scratched me! And you're laughing! How could you?" Naruto sniffles and turns away, giving her the silent treatment. She laughs softly and shakes her head, humming in amusement.

"Oh, Naru-kun, please forgive me," She says innocently, tugging on his jacket and sending him a sweet smile, "You'll make me sad if you keep giving me this treatment..."

"D-Don't be sad, Saku-chan!" Naruto shouts, pulling her into a hug and throwing her over his shoulder, "Let's find that damn cat, Sasuke-teme!" He then breaks off into a run. Sasuke looks down and shakes his head, mentally face-palming himself. What is he suppose to do about his idiotic teammates?

Sakura quietly laughs and pinches his cheeks, making him put her down. She stretches her arms over her head and nods her head towards the left, signaling her boys to follow. She, too, quietly hides behind a tree and glances down at their target, making sure there was a bow on its ear. She gives them the go signal before jumping out of the tree and landing in front of the cat, scaring it. The cat hisses and jumps up, trying to run away from them, only to be grabbed from behind.

"Aha! Stupid cat, who got you now?" Naruto taunts, swinging the cat over his head and spins himself.

"Dope..." Sasuke sighs out, "Mission complete." He mutters into the ear piece for Kakashi to hear.

"Alright, let's return to the tower then," His voice comes through their ear pieces. Sakura nods in agreement - even though he couldn't see it - and turns on her heel, heading towards the tower with Naruto running after her.

* * *

X X X

* * *

"Congratulations, team seven! You have passed another mission!" The Third Hokage praises, smiling down at the students, "The day is still early, so I'm going to send you on another mission." He picks up the 'D-rank' mission scroll and blows out of puff of smoke before speaking again, "You can babysit a noble child, pull out weeds, help a client with shopping..."

"No!" Naruto shouts, growling under his breath, "I don't want no damn kiddy mission! Academy students can do these! I want to get out of the village and _live_, old man! Can't we get a higher mission? It's not like we are weak!"

"Naruto..." Kakashi groans, looking down in shame. He knew he's going to be scolded later for his students outburst.

"I agree with Dope," Sasuke admits, staring into the Hokage's eyes, "We have been on many D-rank missions, and we are finishing them a lot quicker than the other teams." Sakura shakes her head lightly, face-palming herself. Sure, she agrees with them, but she doesn't appreciate them disrespecting the Hokage, "The missions are for us to work on teamwork more, isn't it?"

"Part of it, yes," The Third answers, raises his eyebrows amused, "What do you think about going on a C-rank mission, Sakura?"

"I believe my teammates are a bunch of idiots," Sakura states bluntly, crossing her arms over her chest, "I do agree with them though; we can't really improve anymore with teamwork unless we start learning more techniques. We've been training together for years; we know almost everything about each other." Sasuke glares at Sakura, Naruto cries loudly, and Kakashi sweat drops at her bluntness.

"Sakura, I don't really think insulting your teammates are proof of you guys getting along," Kakashi comments lightly, watching Sakura roll her eyes.

"Sure, sure." She says lazily, sending the Hokage a sweet smile, "I do think we are good enough for a C-rank mission, Hokage-sama." She bows lightly, waiting for him to either deny or accept the request. The Third Hokage hums softly under his breath and rubs his chin, trying to decide what to do.

"Well," He starts out, ignoring Iruka's complaints, "I believe your team does have the best teamwork; team eight is probably close..." Sakura nods in agreement; Hinata, Kiba, and Shino are all good ninjas' and there skills balance each other. "But, I do believe you'll be able to do a simple C-rank escort mission." He sends them a smile, "Bring in the client!"

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_There it is! I hope you enjoyed it. I want to thank the following for reviewing: **Dead-jade-eyes, Splitheart1120, Angelpanda-chan, Dina Sana, Poobear07, Guest, Guest, and Sakura Souen. (It won't let me put your whole name, I don't know why though.)**_

_**Kimi-the-Writer**_


	11. Chapter 11

_A.N: Tada~ The next chapter has arrived! I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter; the infamous Inner Sakura finally makes an appearance! They Mission to the Land of Waves is still going to be in the next few chapters; if I don't finish it in the next chapter. Then we have the chunin exams, and then that's basically the rest of this story! So it's getting close to the ends, folks! Please review!_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

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Tough

Chapter Eleven

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X X X

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An old grey haired man walks in with a large beard and dark eyes; he's wearing a sleeveless v-neck shirt with an obi, pants and a pair of sandals; a white towel is around his neck, and he has a pointed hat on his head, hiding his semi-spiky hair. He leans against the wall and sends the team a nasty smile while taking a gulp of his whiskey; his cheeks are slightly pink from being intoxicated.

"Heh, these little pests are supposed to guard me? What a joke!" The guy insults, glaring down at the team with his square glasses slipping off his nose, "What are they? Ten!" He chuckles, taking another swing of his drink, "It doesn't matter." He points his finger at Sakura, "You better be able to walk more than a few miles, girly! We are walking far! Wouldn't want your pretty, _fake _hair get ruined, would we?"

"Fake hair?" Sakura asks, tilting her head to the wide with an innocent smile on her face, "If you are talking about my pink hair, sir, it is my real hair color. No need to get personal here, right?" Naruto laughs nervously and puts his arm around Sakura's shoulder, wanting to hold her back if she tries to jump on the client; Sasuke merely shakes his head and glares at the client.

"I highly doubt that, Pinky, you probably want to get one of the guys attention." The guy snickers, finishing the rest of his bottle and sighing. "I guess you brats will have to do though, so remember, my life is in your arms! You better protect me with your lives!" Kakashi raises his eyebrow and watches the older client with suspicion. They are going on a C-rank mission, why should they worry about anything too dangerous? "My name is Tazuna, I am the great bridge builder!"

"Pleased to do so, Tazuna-san." Sakura says sweetly - her voice filled with false emotion - "We are going to leave the village soon, okay? Kakashi-sensei, you better not be late; Naruto, don't pack up too much ramen; Sasuke, tell your mother about the mission; as for myself, I am going to go home, pack, and tell Kenji-chan about the mission." She looks up at Tazuna, "Kakashi-sensei will be with you in the village, so if you need any help ask him. Other than that, I'll meet you four in front of the gates, in two hours. Bye." Sakura forms a few hand signs before disappearing in a whirl of cherry blossoms, leaving everyone else in the room stun.

"Kakashi?" The Third Hokage calls, his eyebrow raised, and a small smirk on his face, "Is she becoming the new leader or something? None of you spoke up to stop her orders."

"Oh, Saku-chan has a natural talent for leading, old man." Naruto answers, smiling brightly, "Plus, we don't want to get on her bad side; she is quite scary with a kunai knife." Naruto shivers whispering, "Especially during training..."

"I'm leaving with the dope," Sasuke announces, dragging Naruto out the door and leaving the elders alone.

"I guess I better not be late," Kakashi sighs out, shaking his head. He isn't exactly afraid of what they can do to him; oh no, he was afraid of what they'll do - no she will do - to his book if he comes even one second late. "Let's go then, Tazuna-san, I am going to have to go pack some." Tazuna nods and walks out of the room with Kakashi. As soon as they shut the door, the Third Hokage chuckles, blowing out another puff of smoke.

"Hokage-sama, are you sure they will be okay?" Iruka asks worryingly with a frown on his face, "I agree with you; about them being great ninjas' and having good teamwork together, but on a C-rank mission?" The Third Hokage puts his hand up, silencing the academy teacher.

"I know why you are worried, but I'm sure everything will be okay. If anything goes bad they have Kakashi, right?" The Third says smiling. _I just hope this bad feeling isn't anything too serious. _

* * *

X X X

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Sakura quietly enters her house and walks upstairs, grabbing her khaki color bag, and opening her dresser. She pulls out a few pairs of training outfits, panties, and bras; she then walks into the bathroom and puts in all of her hygienic supplies she needs. She sets the bag down on her bed and starts to put in her weapons in her weapon pouch and front pocket of her bag, in case she runs out.

After making sure she had everything packed, she walks downstairs and enters into the kitchen, smiling gently at Kenji, who is sitting in the dining room chair and reading the latest book she brought home.

"Kenji-chan, I'm leaving the village for a mission today." Sakura tells him, sitting down in the chair across of him and resting her head on the table, tired. "Have you found anything at all?"

"Leaving for a mission, huh?" He questions quietly, glancing up at her and frowning. He doesn't know if he wants her to leave for a while. No one else knows about her dreams that injure her real body, "I'm guessing it's your first C-rank mission?" Sakura nods, tilting her head more for him to answer the last question, "I haven't found anything else really, except the thing inside of you can really take over your body, but we already knew that." He sighs, "The thing inside of you is a side-effect to some mark. Not all of the marks leave an actually mark on the real body though."

"So, are you saying the 'Inner Sakura' stamped on the demon's head is the mark?" She asks softly, rubbing her forehead, "Who would put it inside of me though? And why?" He shrugs lightly.

"Saku-chan, did your mom abandon you, or die?" Kenji asks suddenly, making Sakura jump out of her seat.

"S-She abandoned me and dad when I was like two years old," Sakura answers, raising her eyebrow, "Why? What does that have anything to do with me?"

"The mark, if your mother had you a lot as a baby, she could have left with the person who marked you."

"So... my mother did this to me?" Sakura asks quietly, "And the thing can take me over anytime she wants if I lose my will to keep her back?"

"Most likely," Kenji replies, looking back down at the book he was reading, "Have a safe trip, and be careful. Don't forget to pack some food and water."

"Hai," Sakura replies standing up and walking over to the cabinet and dropping in some snacks and bottles of water into her bag, "I'm going to have to leave now; I'm going to tell Hinata and the others about the mission before leaving to the gate." Kenji nods.

"Bye Saku-chan; be careful."

"Bye," Sakura whispers, putting her bag on her shoulder and walking out of the house, heading towards the training grounds to find the other teams.

* * *

X X X

* * *

"I'm sorry for interrupting this practice, Asuma-sensei," Sakura bows, rubbing the back of her head, "I just have to announce to the males of this team about my departure." Asuma smiles kindly down at her and nods, yelling for the team to take a break. "Thank you!" Sakura thanks, running over to Shikamaru and jumping into his arms, laughing when he almost fell to the ground - and surprisingly caught her - "Shika-kun, I'm going on a mission out of the village, I just thought I should tell you and Chouji." She tells them, jumping off of him and pulling Chouji into a hug, "I don't know when I'll be back, but I thought I should tell you guys bye, and I hope to see you soon."

"C-rank mission already?" Shikamaru asks, looking up at the sky and sighing, "What a drag, Naruto isn't going to let this down." Sakura smiles, nodding in agreement.

"Have fun, Sakura. Tell the others I said good luck." Chouji says, pulling out a bag of chips from his weapon pouch and eating them, "Don't forget to tell Hinata. She'll freak out if you don't tell her."

"Tsk, so the forehead freak is leaving the village already?" Ino asks, putting her nose high up in the air, "How silly, you'll be the first to die out of any of us."

"Ino," Sakura says calmly, sending her an evil smirk, "If I remember correctly, every battle we had since the day you broke my nose, I won; quite easily if I may add." Ino growls lowly under her breath and turns on her heel, slapping Sakura in the face with her pony tail. "Sore loser." Sakura mumbles, giving the boys one last goodbye hug and leaving the training area, looking for Hinata's team.

* * *

X X X

* * *

"Hinata, my team is leaving on a C-rank mission to the Land of Waves. We don't know when we'll be back though." Sakura admits, scratching her cheek gently, "I know you might be worried, but we'll try to be as safe as we can, okay?" Hinata nods, sending her friend a small, sad smile.

"Of course you guys will; if any of us can do the mission, it'll be you." Hinata says, pulling Sakura into a tight hug, "Saku-chan, are you not telling us something?"

"Hinata," Kiba warns, pulling Sakura into one of his hugs and placing a kiss on her forehead, flashing his fangs in the biggest smile ever, "You better be safe, Princess, Hinata will go on a killing streak if you aren't." Sakura smiles and nods, giggling.

"Be safe, Sakura. I hope your team will be safe, too." Shino says, patting her head lightly.

"I will, thanks for the concern everyone; we will be as safe as possible." Sakura promises, waving, "I'll see you all next time, bye." Sakura exits the training ground and runs towards the front gate, not wanting to be late.

* * *

X X X

* * *

"We made it just on time!" Kakashi mumbles, relaxing and sending Sakura a cheeky grin under his mask, "Since we are all here - and one time! - I think we should start walking now. It'll take awhile to get there, and we don't know how far Tazuna can walk without taking a break. Let's go."

"Yes! This is so cool! Teme! Isn't the forest amazing? I can't wait to be able to explore!" Naruto shouts as soon as he takes one step out of the village and grinning, "I'm out of the village, I'm out of the village!" He chants, ignoring the insults Tazuna throws at him. He will not let the old man get to him; he doesn't want to upset Sakura.

"Shut up, Dope." Sasuke grumbles out, stealing glances at Sakura every once in a while, trying to see if there is any suspicions movements.

"Calm down, guys. It's just out of the village. The only thing different is that it's more dangerous." Sakura mumbles out, crossing her arms over her chest and staring up at the sky, watching the clouds roll by, "Let's hurry up."

* * *

X X X

* * *

After a few hours of walking, the team passes a puddle on the side of the road, making Sakura curiously glance at it and reach inside of her pouch, pulling out a kunai knife and speeding up, falling in step with the client. Kakashi, who also notices the puddle, glances up at Sakura slightly impressed. She obviously noticed it while the other two didn't. He was about to say something to her when two Mist Ninja's jump out of the puddle and tear Kakashi in two, making Tazuna faint, Naruto scream, and Sasuke glare. **Let the games begin, shall we, outer? **Inner chuckles out, forming handsigns and knocking Sakura out. **I am going to take over your body know, love; thanks for taking such good care of it, I have some enemies to kill now though! **

Suddenly, Sakura opens her eyes; instead of her normal emerald-green eyes, they are dark red; her normal pink hair is changed into long, black wavy hair with red streaks. She smiles nastily at the two mist ninja's cracking her neck. The aura around her changes drastically; instead of her normal, friendly aura, it is a killing aura with a tint of mystery.

**"Let's begin, shall we, boys?" **Inner chuckles, pulling out her kunai knife and throwing it at the first one's face, scratching his cheek. She rushes towards him and picks up the kunai knife, licking the blood. **"Whose first?" **

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X X X

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_And that's the end of this lovely chapter! I finally got more information about Inner Sakura out there! I hope you guys enjoyed it, and sorry for the cliff hanger at the end, but I thought it'll be the best place to stop without going over 4,000 words. For each chapter, I write about 2,000+ words, so I like to keep to that. Anyways, please review! And I hope you enjoyed! _

_I would like to thank the following for reviewing: **Dina Sana, MiyatheEarthninja, Splitheart1120, Guest, Angelpanda-chan, .X, and Lovely Athena!**_

_Kimi-the-Writer_


	12. Chapter 12

_A.N: Hey guys, I'm not dead! My gosh I haven't been on here in AGES, and I apologize for that! I want everyone to know that I'm not abandoning this story. I really do hope to finish it until the end! My writing might be a big.. choppy as of now since I haven't written in awhile. Give me a few more days and I'll improve more, hopefully. I can't say I love this chapter, but I believe it's fine. I can't say when the next update will be, but it'll most likely be in a few days (I hope so at least). I feel horrible for going MIA with the story right there! So I really do apologize. I will try and bring the next chapter out as soon as I can. Please remember to review! _

_And now the chapter I made you all wait for (and apologize for...I mean really! I can't believe it's been so long.) I hope you enjoy!_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!**_

* * *

Tough

Chapter Twelve

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X X X

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Meizu, the youngest brother, growls underneath his mask. The small, weak girl was able to hit _him _with a kunai knife? How ridiculous is that thought? How could he of let his guard down?

"You sure do talk big, girly, for a Genin." He taunts, smirking slightly - even though they can't see it -, "I'd like to remind you that we took your sensei down easily, so how can you do it?" Gozu, his older brother, glances towards Meizu in annoyance. Meizu doesn't seem to understand or sense the weird charka surrounding the girl. Did Meizu fail to notice the girl's strange appearance change, too?

**"Actually, I believe you don't realize the situation you brought yourself in, missing ninja**_**," **_Inner says softly, twirling the kunai knife around her middle finger slowly, **"I believe I'll have fun taking you both down, I haven't been able to play in such a long time..." **She walks towards them slowly, a sadistic smirk forming on her lips, **"There are so many ways to kill you both, some painfully, and others painless. Did I mention I enjoy watching people beg for their lives? I can't wait to listen to you beg, maybe if I enjoy it you'll be able to live, but I highly doubt it." **

"When is the last time you were able to kill?" Gozu, the calmer brother, asks curiously, trying to stall some time. If he could distract her long enough, Meizu will be able to kill the bridge builder as quick as possible.

**"A few nights ago, however it's boring when I'm only harming Sakura. She's so stubborn and refuses to let me out, too bad she hasn't been getting enough sleep lately. She's becoming more and more weak thanks to the two little hours she sleeps at night. By the way, you really are stupid if you think you both killed Kakashi. He's spying on us right now." **Inner whispers into Gozu's ear, while twirling a piece of his hair with her finger. Gozu stiffens immediately, not liking how close she is to him. **"I think I'll kill you know, you aren't any fun." **Inner declares with a small frown. She really wanted a better toy to play with, but this one seems to be broken. She, then, stabs Gozu in the ear, watching him drop onto the ground dead. She turns to the other brother smiling sweetly. **"It's your turn now." **She informs him, stalking towards her prey. Meizu looks down at his brother's dead form, shock. His brother must of dropped his guard around her, how else would a genin be able to kill him? Inner stops right in front of him and giggles, stroking his cheek softly, wiping off his brother's blood on his cheek. She lifts her hand up, planning to pull his heart out, however, she suddenly freezes and drops to her knees, gripping onto her head, and letting out a ear-splitting scream.

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X X X

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_Sakura growls, punching the ground until her hand starts to bleed. She knew this was dangerous, whatever happened to her here happens to her outside body, but she was just too frustrated to consider that. She can feel Inner's evil growing more and more inside of her. The blood lust was just too strong for her to hold Inner back. She grew too weak to stop her and let her demon escape. She knew Kenji was going to be pissed, and her teammates will probably fear her now. She might even be sent to jail. _What the hell are you doing? I know you can see the enemy, why are you pulling me back now!? _"Shut up, Inner! You killed someone, and you were about to kill again!" _Because of your stupid weakness we'll end up dying instead! _Sakura suddenly smiles sadly and shrugs, glancing up at Inner, "If I have to die to rid you from this world then I shall." Inner stares at Sakura in disbelief. Was this girl, Sakura, really willing to die just for other people's safety? "I said, give me my body back!" Sakura orders, dragging Inner back into her minds and shoves her into a box._

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X X X

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Sakura opens her eyes slowly, blinking a few times, trying to adjust to the sun beating down on her. She can hear her teammates hush voices a few feet away from her, and sees the bridge builder looking down at her with fear written all over his face. She mentally frowns, silently cursing to Karma. Why did her life seem so bad? Her mother abandons her, her father dies, and she finds out her mother might have brought her to someone who put a mark on her, and was forced to live with Inner Sakura as a side-effect.

"We are not turning our backs on her Kakashi-sensei, she didn't even harm us!" Naruto growls lowly.

"I agree with Dope, she needs us now more than ever." Sasuke grumbles, putting in his own thoughts, "We've seen her at her best and worst times, she's obviously fighting whatever is going on." Kakashi smiles down at his two male students with pride.

"I am glad you guys said that," He admits ruffling both of their hairs, "Now let's go over to her and be quiet, she's probably still sleeping."

"I'm not, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura interrupts, slowly sitting up and glancing down at her body to examine it for any injuries. She notices her hands wrapped in bandages, most likely due to her episode in her mind, and a few cuts all over her face. "Mind me asking what happened when I... erm... disappeared?" She asks softly, watching her teammates tense up.

"Sakura, do you mind telling us what happened?" Kakashi demands, sitting down in front of her and placing his hand on top of her head gently, letting her know he won't hurt her, "And does anybody know about it?"

"Kenji-chan knows," Sakura answers immediately, pulling her legs up to her chest and glancing around, noticing they are camping in the woods. She then, glances towards the sleeping client, "I would rather talk later at night, though." She mumbles before laying back down and curling up into a ball, trying to get comfortable but not enough to sleep.

"The... other you mentioned something about you not getting enough sleep, is that true?" Kakashi asks, watching as Naruto and Sasuke slowly approach the girl.

"When I sleep, I enter her world, or as she told me last time, her prison-like home." Sakura mumbles, closing her eyes, "She can injure me in my sleep, and it works." She glances towards Sasuke and Naruto, but doesn't look into their eyes, "You know how I changed my appearance? It's so I could hide all of the scratches and wounds all over my body." She looks down at the ground to avoid their eyes, "I... I'm scared to go in there, whatever happens to me there happens in real life."

"Sakura-chan, please look at me," Naruto whispers softly, grabbing onto her hand gently, squeezes it, silently urging her to at least glance. Slowly, Sakura turns her head and faces him, frowning. "We don't hate you Sakura, and we will help you in any way."

"We'll finish this mission up quickly and then return home." Sasuke adds in, placing his hand on her head and ruffling her hair, smiling gently down at her. "Whatever you're going through we'll get through it together, okay?" Sakura nods, a few tears escaping her eyes. Finally, after all these years of lying, they know about her secret. Her Inner demon might have escaped, but her friends are strong enough to help her pull through. If she has Naruto and Sasuke by her side she can do anything.

"I would like to ask you not to fight though, Sakura, I hope you understand." Kakashi declares, staring down at his student with a grim smile. Sakura hasn't been able to sleeping for days, and yet she's standing as strong as she can.

"I...I apologize for everything that happened... S-She usually only hurts me. Kenji-chan is at home right now, searching for more answers." She looks up at Kakashi and smiles sweetly, "Don't smile at me like that, Kakashi-sensei. I can make it, don't worry." She promises him, giving him a thumbs up.

* * *

X X X

* * *

Tazuna walks through the forest with his head down, sighing. After he woke up, Kakashi forced him to tell the truth. This isn't a C-rank mission and genin ninja shouldn't be able to handle it, truthfully speaking. His mission is actually a B-rank mission that can easily turn into a A-rank.

"Don't worry about it, old man." Naruto tells Tazuna, sending him a bright, cheerful smile. "We aren't gonna abandon you halfway through." Tazuna nods and glances over at Sasuke, raising his eyebrow curiously. "He won't abandon you either. Same with Sakura. They are both really caring, you know?"

"Why is the female still sleeping? Is she weaker than you and need more sleep?" Tazuna asks suddenly, watching Naruto frown in disappointment.

"Weaker you say?" Naruto asks slowly, glancing up at the sky, "She's not weak, at all. She's been having problems sleeping and is finally able to sleep peacefully." His gaze switches over to Tazuna, giving him a small glare, "Don't you dare make fun of her." Suddenly, Naruto turns to a random direction and pulls out his kunai knife, throwing it into the bushes. A small, white rabbit hops out fearfully before running away.

"A white rabbit..?" Kakashi mumbles to himself before his eye widens in surprise, "EVERYONE, GET DOWN NOW!" Kakashi dives towards Tazuna and pulls him down while his students quickly drop to the ground. Sakura's eyes snap open once Sasuke hit the floor and stares towards the sword, watching a man appear on the sword.

"Aa, Kakashi Hatake, now I see why the Demon Brother's had problems." The male says, smirking, "Hand over the bridge builder, or else everyone's blood will be splashed on the forest's ground." He declares, jumping down to the ground and pulling his sword out of the tree easily, landing on his feet.

"Zabuza Momochi." Kakashi mumbles, placing his hand over his headband and lifting it up, "If we are against you, I'll be needing this." He opens his eye, his sharingan spinning rapidly and focusing on the missing ninja.

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X X X

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_And there you have it! Man, I feel so weird actually updating the story again, and let me tell you all, it feels great! I can't tell if my writing is still... good so anyone mind leaving reviews? Thanks! I have to say, I missed all of this, so I hope it all works out for us. I really do hope I finish this story this year. Summer is here again, so I have a long time to actually work on the story. Normally, I'd put a list of names here that gave me a review, but I'm gonna stop that now. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it - honestly, reading your reviews usually bring a smile to my face! - but I have a long list of names to do it with so... Yeah. I'm proud to say that my story has it over 12,000+ hits and over 100 reviews! Thanks for all the support guys, it really does feel awesome knowing people enjoy your writing! _

_Kimi-the-writer_


	13. Chapter 13

_A.N: Man, is this story getting intense! I hope to see you review! Yet again, I'd like to apologize for my disappearance, so I hope you enjoy the newest chapter! I say I have... one or two more chapters for this arc. Anyways, I hope you enjoy! (=_

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!_**

* * *

Tough

Chapter Thirteen

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X X X

* * *

"Sakura-chan, do you know who this Zabuza guy is?" Naruto whispers to his female friend. Sakura shakes her head and jumps up, standing protectively in front of Tazuna.

"I can't think of him at this moment; right now it isn't important though, all we need to worry about is protecting Tazuna and making sure he doesn't die. Don't start to complain either, we agree to go through this, even when we knew this is higher than a C-rank." Sakura interrupts, pulling out her kunai knife and holding it tightly. She knew the name from somewhere, probably from her adoptive father, Kenji.

"Come on, dope." Sasuke orders, jumping up himself and standing to the Tazuna's left. Naruto jumps up last and stands protectively on Tazuna's right. "Sakura, if you can avoid fighting then make sure you do. I don't really want... people to know your condition." Sasuke lowers his voice, trying to make sure Zabuza couldn't hear them.

"I know, Sasuke." Sakura whispers gently, smiling sadly. She really doesn't want her inner demon out again. She doesn't know if she'll be able stop herself again. Naruto glances over at her and places his hand on her arm, squeezing her softly.

"Just leave everything to us boys, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grins, giving her a thumbs up. Sakura rolls her eyes and smiles more.

"Enough chit-chat." Kakashi orders after Zabuza made the area foggy. Kakashi needed his team quiet so he can listen for Zabuza. Zabuza is a missing ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist, and was one of the best. He wasn't anyone Kakashi can fool around with. Everyone's life is in his hands. If he fails, everyone is going to die, or Sakura's secret Inner demon is going to come out and slaughter them all.

"You should be paying attention, Kakashi." Zabuza chuckles after appearing in between the team's formation and trying to swing his sword at Tazuna. Sakura immediately thrusts her knife in his chest. Water explodes all over them, soaking Sakura and Tazuna. "Oh, that's a strange girl." Zabuza mumbles, shaking his head, "She just thrusted her kunai knife in my chest without delay. I'm going to enjoy killing her. It's going to be really fun."

"You will _not _harm any of my students, I promise you that!" Kakashi growls out. His sharigan eye twirls angrily before he charges towards Zabuza. Zabuza swings his sword at Kakashi while Kakashi clashes it with his kunai knife.

While Kakashi and Zabuza fight Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto form a new formation to protect Tazuna. They can't let their client be harmed or worse; killed. Kakashi suddenly dives into the water, blocking an attack Zabuza threw at him.

"No! Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura shouts, trying to warn Kakashi about his stupidity. It was too late though, Zabuza already had him trapped in his water prison.

"Crap! Guys, take Tazuna home and get away from here, now!" Kakashi orders, angry at his mistake. How could he be so stupid?

"No way!" Naruto shouts, holding his right hand in the air, closed into a fist. "We will not abandon a teammate. Sensei or not, you are still part of team seven!"

"Idiot how are you going to win against him!" Kakashi growls out, trying to get his student to realize how the situation is playing out. "He caught the strongest out here, and your mission is to protect Tazuna."

"Shut up Kakashi-sensei." Sakura snaps, her emerald-green eyes dancing in annoyance, "Sasuke, Naruto," She calls; Sasuke and Naruto both turn their attention to her, "Find a way to get Kakashi-sensei free. I'll protect Tazuna with my life." Sasuke frowns lightly while Naruto shakes his head quickly, "Fine! Do you want me and Naruto to fight and Sasuke to guard?" She asks again. Yet again they disagreed. "So shut up and find a way to free Kakashi-sensei!"

"He isn't going anywhere, girl." Zabuza orders, narrowing his eyes. "If he is, he'll be hanged on a tree with my sword through his heart." Tazuna winces and places his hands over his heart. How the hell are these three Genin ninja going to protect him?

"Hey, Sasuke, I think I have a plan." Naruto whispers, waving for Sasuke to come over and join him. Sasuke glances over at him and runs towards him. Naruto leans towards Sasuke ear and whispers softly. Sasuke suddenly smirks.

"That might actually work." Sasuke mumbles, nodding his head and standing up. Naruto and Sasuke immediately start their plan while Tazuna's life is in the female ninja's life. Kakashi watches helplessly as Naruto gets kicked into the tree and Sasuke get punched in the face. His students may have better teamwork than most, but their skills aren't enough for this fight.

"Hey, Sasuke, catch!" Naruto's shadow clone shouts, throwing a wind shuriken towards Sasuke. Sasuke catches it and spins midair while opening it up and throwing it towards Zabuza, missing the water clone. Zabuza jumps over it and laughs.

"I have to tell you aiming for the real me was smart, however, I can easily dodge it." Zabuza secretly brags while his water clone knocks Sasuke down.

"You shouldn't get too cocky, Zabuza." Sakura comments, watching the shuriken change into Naruto and throw a kunai knife at Zabuza's arm. Zabuza releases his grip on the prison. As the water prison bursts, Sasuke throws a kunai knife at the water clone and makes it disperse.

"I moved because I wanted to!" Zabuza growls out while charging towards Sakura, only to get cut off.

"You aren't touching my team." Kakashi spits out, shoving Zabuza into the water more. Zabuza starts to do a jutsu with Kakashi mimicking his signs quickly. As the jutsu's clash, Zabuza eyes widen.

"W-What is this? It's like you're reading my mind!" Zabuza shouts with Kakashi shouting at the same time. Zabuza growls out while Kakashi starts to form the signs for Water Style: Water vertex jutsu. "How is this? I was about to do it too!" Zabuza shouts as he is washed away. Sakura grabs onto Tazuna and holds onto the tree tightly, wincing when wood went into her skin. Sasuke grabs Naruto's foot and pulls him out of the water, rolling his eyes. Naruto is still a dope who can't protect himself.

Team seven moves towards Zabuza quickly, trying to make sure he is still down. Suddenly, a needle flies through the trees, hitting Zabuza in the neck and killing him. A ninja appears on a tree branch in front of Zabuza and stares down at the group. listening to Naruto yell nonsense.

"He is dead though, Naruto." Kakashi announces, taking his finger off of Zabuza and shaking his head, "His pulse is gone." He turns towards the mist ninja. The mist ninja teleports next to Zabuza and lifts him up.

"I want to thank you for slowing him down. I've been after him for a very long time. I should get going now, goodbye." The mist ninja vanishes, taking Zabuza's dead body away.

"Well, time to take you home, Tazuna." Kakashi mutters, his eyes going blurry as he passes out, thudding on the ground.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouts as team seven rushes over to their sensei.

* * *

X X X

* * *

Sakura sits next to Kakashi, resting her hand on her palm, sighing. Naruto and Sasuke were already fast asleep, and Kakashi hasn't woke up, either. Tazuna and his family were already sleeping, too. She was too scared to try to sleep. Her Inner demon must be furious with her, and if she enters her inner's so called prison, she is most likely dead. Sakura sighs softly and looks up at the ceiling. Can she really stop her Inner self without killing herself? She doubts it. Inner is dangerous and she's scared about the damamge Inner can do.

* * *

X X X

* * *

Kenji groans softly to himself and leans on the kitchen counter, reading through a book of seals. He found a disturbing entry about a missing nin a few days ago, and had it stashed in his room. He forgot all about it, and now his daughter is out in the dangerous world. He's not worried about just any missing ninja; it's the one who was bansihed from his village for placing seals on babies. Kenji frowns, punching the counter in annoyance. From the information he recieved he found out that the babies were diagonised as mental when they turned four years old. The entry is twenty years old, so this might be the person who Sakura's mother brought her too.

"I need to speak to Hokage-sama about this," Kenji decides, holding the entry close to his chest and exiting the house. He runs into the Hokage's tower and knocks on the door impatiently.

"Come in," The third Hokage calls, granting Kenji's wish. Kenji enters the office immediately and bows.

"I apologize for coming unannounced, Hokage-sama." Kenji apologizes before frowning deeply, "I have important news though, and I would like to speak to you about it now."

"Everyone leave," The Hokage orders, "I will like to speak to Kenji alone." The group of anbu nod and exit the room, "What's bothering you, Kenji?"

"It's my adopted daughter, Sakura Haruno." Kenji starts, staring into the Hokage's eyes to show how serious he is, "She's been having issues lately with... well... we don't know what it is exactly." Kenji pauses, thinking about Sakura's injuries, "Sometimes when Sakura sleeps, she gets pulled into this other world. I believe Sakura said that the... Inner inside of her called it her prison. We've been doing research lately and I recently found out that the Inner that Sakura mentions is from a side-effect of a seal." The Hokage narrows his eyes, staring at the document in Kenji's hand.

"What is that?" The Hoakge asks curiously.

"It's a document I found a couple of days ago. It's talking about a missing ninja who was banished from his village for putting seals on babies. Apparently, every child he used it on earlier was said to be mental by the time they were toddlers. This was over twenty years ago though." Kenji explains calmly, tightening his hold around it, "Sakura just left for a C-rank mission and I'm worried for her. Kakashi doesn't know about her... condition. The Inner is brutal to Sakura and leaves her wounded. If I can get permission from you, can I go after them, Hokage-sama?" Kenji asks, bowing lowly.

The Hokage stares at Kenji, rubbing his chin in thought. He remembers reading those entries of the insane toddlers. Sakura can't be one of those children, since she's only twelve, but if he snuck into the village and got to her, it's very possible.

"How long has she had this Inner self?" The Hokage demands.

"She said that Inner has been with her since the beginning. If I may add, Hokage-sama, you know about her mother abandoning her, right?" Kenji asks him, still bowing.

"Yes I am well aware of that. Kenji, I will grant you permission to leave, but I'm going to send Itachi Uchiha and Shisui Uchiha. If she has something wrong mentally, they will be the best option." The Hokage explains lightly, "Cat!" He shouts, watching a anbu appear in front of him, "Go retrieve Itachi and Shisui Uchiha, tell them it's of upmost importance." The anbu, Cat, nods and disappears, heading towards the Uchiha compound. "Do you have any ideas how to get rid of the Inner?"

"From all the research I've done, Hokage-sama, the only way to stop Inner is to kill Sakura." Kenji replies emotionless.

* * *

X X X

* * *

_Ouch, what is going to happen to poor Sakura? And now the Third Hokage is sending Shisui and Itachi after team seven! This is turning pretty interesting, ne? ^^ Please review!_

_Kimi-the-writer_


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